WHEN night was lifting, And dawn had crept under its shade, Amid cold clouds drifting Dead-white as a corpse outlaid, With a sudden scare I seemed to behold My Love in bare Hard lines unfold. Yea, in a moment, An insight that would not die Killed her old endowment Of charm that had capped all nigh, Which vanished to none Like the gilt of a cloud, And showed her but one Of the common crowd. She seemed but a sample Of earth's poor average kind, Lit up by no ample Enrichments of mien or mind. I covered my eyes As to cover the thought, And unrecognize What the morn had taught. O vision appalling When the one believed-in thing Is seen falling, falling, With all to which hope can cling. Off: it is not true; For it cannot be That the prize I drew Is a blank to me! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INVOCATION by LOUIS UNTERMEYER THE SHADOWY WATERS: A DRAMATIC POEM by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI: 7. THE SILENCE by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER A WOMAN'S QUESTION by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER |