HOW calmly, and with what a shield of light, The powerful sovereign of the earth and air Is winding up the blue Olympian stair Into the realm of the imperial night! No longer hurling from his dizzy height The twisted bolt that sets the world aglare, Nor fiercely driving the dark clouds that bear The thunder-stone to startle and affright,— But shining as a star adown whose ray Glides what is salutary, what is worth More than aught else upon the natal day Of beings destined to a mortal birth: For Jove is kind, and with benignant sway Rules, loving all the dwellers of the earth. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON HUNTINGDON'S 'MIRANDA' by SIDNEY LANIER THE ROAD TO AVIGNON by AMY LOWELL A FORGOTTEN TUNE by PAUL VERLAINE TO A FRIEND by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD HEROD'S LAMENT FOR MARIAMNE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON ON A VIRTUOUS YOUNG GENTLEWOMAN THAT DIED SUDDENLY by WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT FEBRUARY IN ROME by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE |