FROM a ruin thou art singing, O lonely, lonely bird! The soft blue air is ringing, By thy summer music stirred. But all is dark and cold beneath, Where harps no more are heard: Whence win'st thou that exulting breath, O lonely, lonely bird? Thy songs flow richly swelling To a triumph of glad sounds, As from its cavern-dwelling A stream in glory bounds! Though the castle-echoes catch no tone Of human step or word, Though the fires be quenched and the feasting done, O lonely, lonely bird! How can that flood of gladness Rush through thy fiery lay, From the haunted place of sadness, From the bosom of decay -- While the dirge-notes in the breeze's moan Through the ivy garlands heard, Come blent with thy rejoicing tone, O lonely, lonely bird? There's many a heart, wild singer! Like thy forsaken tower, Where joy no more may linger, Where Love hath left his bower: And there's many a spirit e'en like thee, To mirth as lightly stirred, Though it soar from ruins in its glee, O lonely, lonely bird! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SIMON SURNAMED PETER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE FINDING OF THE LYRE by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 5. THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON A LOVE SONNET by GEORGE WITHER PSALM 23 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE TO THE OBELISK DURING THE GREAT FROST, 1881 by MATHILDE BLIND NATALIA'S RESURRECTION: 13 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT DEDICATIONS AND INSCRIPTIONS: 7. FAREWELL TO WHITE-NIGHTS by GORDON BOTTOMLEY |