WHAT were I, Love, if I were stripped of thee, If thine eyes shut me out whereby I live, Thou, who unto my calmer soul dost give Knowledge, and Truth, and holy Mystery, Wherein Truth mainly lies for those who see Beyond the earthly and the fugitive, Who in the grandeur of the soul believe, And only in the Infinite are free? Without thee I were naked, bleak, and bare As yon dead cedar on the sea-cliff's brow; And Nature's teachings, which come to me now, Common and beautiful as light and air, Would be as fruitless as a stream which still Slips through the wheel of some old ruined mill. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TENTH MUSE: THE PROLOGUE by ANNE BRADSTREET A BARD'S EPITAPH by ROBERT BURNS THE KINGS by LOUISE IMOGEN GUINEY PROPERZIA ROSSI by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS SIBERIA by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN THE MOTHER-FAITH by EVERARD JACK APPLETON |