WHEN Eve had led her lord away, And Cain had killed his brother, The stars and flowers, the poets say, Agreed with one another To cheat the cunning tempter's art, And teach the race its duty, By keeping on its wicked heart Their eyes of light and beauty. A million sleepless lids, they say, Will be at least a warning; And so the flowers would watch by day, The stars from eve to morning. On hill and prairie, field and lawn, Their dewy eyes upturning, The flowers still watch from reddening dawn Till western skies are burning. Alas! each hour of daylight tells A tale of shame so crushing, That some turn white as sea-bleached shells, And some are always blushing. But when the patient stars look down On all their light discovers, The traitor's smile, the murderer's frown, The lips of lying lovers, They try to shut their saddening eyes, And in the vain endeavor We see them twinkling in the skies, And so they wink forever. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HEMP (A VIRGINIA LEGEND) by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET CONTRA MORTEM: THE NOTHING II by HAYDEN CARRUTH GUILIELMUS REX by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THIS SUMMER AND LAST by THOMAS HARDY WISTFULNESS by KATHARINE ADAMS THE IRISH MOTHER'S LAMENT by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER I LIFT MY CANDLE by ELLEN ANDERSON |