Who sings upon the pinnacle of night? Down, down, unearthly bird, you sing too soon! O bird, be still! O bird, the earth is stricken To hear you at the bosom of the moon. Consent to silence and a simple dark; Permit the heart to lie within the breast Unveiled before a thousand memories, And in parade salute the loveliest. Permit the heart, unaltered by your singing, To have within the dark its pensive way. Release the heart amid its joys and sorrows Untroubled by what angels have to say. Unhindered comes the dawn, and you may sing Victorious and vocal to the light. But now delay, and let the heart reverse Time's sinister profile on the wall of night. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON SICK LEAVE, 1916 by HAMILTON FISH ARMSTRONG PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 95, 96. AL-AZALI, AL-BAKI by EDWIN ARNOLD SPRING THOUGHTS by FLORENCE E. BALDWIN BLANDID'S SONG, FR. THE CRIER BY NIGHT by GORDON BOTTOMLEY ODE TO THE SACRED LAMPS by M. L. R. BRESLAR CAELIA: SONNETS: 5 by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |