WHEN rumour fain would fright my ear With the destruction and decay Of things familiar and dear, And vaunt of a swift-running day That sweeps the fair old Past away; Whatever else be strange and new, All other things may go or stay, So that there be no change in you. These loud mutations others fear Find me high-fortressed 'gainst dismay, They trouble not the tranquil sphere That hallows with immortal ray The world where love and lovers stray In glittering gardens soft with dew -- O let them break and burn and slay, So that there be no change in you. Let rapine its republics rear, And murder its red sceptre sway, Their blood-stained riot comes not near The quiet haven where we pray, And work and love and laugh and play; Unchanged, our skies are ever blue, Nothing can change, for all they say, -- So that there be no change in you. ENVOI Princess, let wild men brag and bray, The pure, the beautiful, the true, Change not, and changeless we as they -- So that there be no change in you. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CAVALIER TUNES: GIVE A ROUSE THEN FOR THE CLINIC by ROBERT BROWNING THE LISBON PACKET by GEORGE GORDON BYRON A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 9 by THOMAS CAMPION THIRD BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 12 by THOMAS CAMPION INCIDENT CHARACTERISTIC OF A FAVOURITE DOG by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 45. ALLAH-AL-MUJIB by EDWIN ARNOLD PORTBURY by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN THE MANX WITCH; A STORY OF THE LAXDALE MINES by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN |