ENTERING your door, I started back; sure this, Said I, Death's shady house and household is; And yonder shines a beauty, as of old Magnificent tombs eternal lamps did hold, In lieu of life's light, a fair taper hid In a dark lanthorn; an eye shut in's lid; A flower in shade; a star in night's dark womb; An alabaster column to a tomb. But why this night in day? Can thy fair eye Delight in such an Aethiop's company? Man hath too many natural clouds: his blood And flesh so blind his hood-wink'd soul, that good Is scarce discern'd from bad; why should we then Seek out an artificial darksome den? The better part of nature hidden lies; The stars indeed we may behold, and skies, But not their influence; we see the fire But not the heat; why then should we desire More night, when darkness so o'er nature lies, That all things mask their better qualities? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JUDGE NOT by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER THE BURDEN OF NINEVEH by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI BIFTEK AUX CHAMPIGNONS by HENRY AUGUSTIN BEERS TO-NIGHT ACROSS THE SEA by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE EPISTLE TO JOHN WILLIAMSON by JOHN BRECKENRIDGE |