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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AN ITALIAN SONNET-SEQUENCE: 8 by PERCY STICKNEY GRANT

First Line: WHAT CLASSIC FORM CAN HOLD THE RESTLESS SPRING
Last Line: "OR PAIN CAN FIND NO LOAD FOR YOU TO BEAR."
Subject(s): LOVE; PAIN; SUFFERING; MISERY;

What classic form can hold the restless song
That day and night the world is chiming me,
Rending my heart with its discordancy?
"Pain, pain is right; joy, joy, ah! joy is wrong."
Now on these April lawns the robins throng
And sing, "O happy love, O ecstasy."
A voice beside me mutters, "Charity."
"Yes," cowering wretch, "to one God we belong."
"Love, love, O love," all sunny places sing.
"Nay, suffer, suffer," cries each human sight,
"Thy garland be the crown thy Lord did wear."
My heart was faint at thought of suffering,
Until Love whispered: "First be my true knight,
Or pain can find no load for you to bear."



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