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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ATTRACTIONS OF THE EAST by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHAT SECRET CURRENT OF MAN'S NATURE TURNS
Last Line: THEIR HOPE, THE FAIR LOST BIRTHRIGHT TO REGAIN!
Subject(s): MIDDLE EAST; SPRING; NEAR EAST; LEVANT;

WHAT secret current of man's nature turns
Unto the golden East with ceaseless flow?
Still, where the sunbeam at its fountain burns,
The pilgrim-spirit would adore and glow;
Rapt in high thoughts, though weary, faint, and slow,
Still doth the traveller through the deserts wind,
Led by those old Chaldean stars, which know
Where passed the shepherd-fathers of mankind.
Is it some quenchless instinct, which from far
Still points to where our alienated home
Lay in bright peace? O thou true Eastern star!
Saviour! atoning Lord! where'er we roam,
Draw still our hearts to Thee, else, else how vain
Their hope, the fair lost birthright to regain!



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