HAST thou not seen an aged rifted tower, Meet habitation for the Ghost of Time, Where fearful ravage makes decay sublime, And destitution wears the face of power? Yet is the fabric deck'd with many a flower Of fragrance wild, and many-dappled hue, Gold streak'd with iron-brown, and nodding blue Making each ruinous chink a fairy bower. E'en such a chink methinks I fain would be, Should Heaven appoint me to a lengthen'd age So old in look, that Young and Old may see The record of my closing pilgrimage: Yet, to the last, a rugged wrinkled thing To which young sweetness may delight to cling | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AFFIRMATION by LOUIS UNTERMEYER LEONARDO'S 'MONNA LISA' by EDWARD DOWDEN GERANIUMS by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON LEXINGTON [APRIL 19, 1775] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE BATTLE OF THE KEGS by FRANCIS HOPKINSON IN THE PINK' by SIEGFRIED SASSOON AND JESUS WEPT by MATTHEW BRIDGES |