YOUR gracious words steal o'er like the breeze That blows from far-off southland isles benign, -- All steeped in perfume, sweet as fairy wine, Yet touched with salt keen breathings of the seas! What smiling thoughts of tender ministries Passionless service, and strong faith divine, Rest with this pictured sister's face of thine, And sister's love: -- (blent fire and balms of ease!) O love! a two-faced shield of light thou art, Whose golden-sided glamour long hath shone, In wedded bliss and affluence on my life; A sister's love -- the fair shield's silvery zone, Turns on me now! -- thy deathless fervor, wife, Blends with the sweetness of this new found heart! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WAITING IN THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL by CLARENCE MAJOR UPON HIS DEPARTURE HENCE by ROBERT HERRICK THE SHEPHERD OF KING ADMETUS by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE ARMADA; A FRAGMENT by THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY MY PICTURE-GALLERY by WALT WHITMAN TO GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, ESQ., ON SEEING HIS PICTURE ... by MATTHEW ARNOLD |