HOW well he spoke who coined the phrase @3The picture palace!@1 Aye, in sooth A palace, where men's weary days Are crowned with kingliness of youth. Strange palace! Crowded, airless, dim, Where toes are trod and strained eyes smart, We watch a wand of brightness limn The old heroics of the heart. Romance again hath us in thrall And Love is sweet and always true, And in the darkness of the hall Hands clasp -- as they were meant to do. Remote from peevish joys and ills Our souls, @3pro tem,@1 are purged and free: We see the sun on western hills, The crumbling tumult of the sea. We are the blond that maidens crave, Well balanced at a dozen banks; By sleight of hand we haste to save A brown-eyed life, nor stay for thanks! Alas, perhaps our instinct feels Life is not all it might have been, So we applaud fantastic reels Of shadow, cast upon a screen! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE STRAPLESS by KAREN SWENSON DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: DIRGE FOR WOLFRAM by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR by JAMES DAVID CORROTHERS THE DARK ANGEL by LIONEL PIGOT JOHNSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 1 by JAMES JOYCE SIBERIA by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX [APRIL 9, 1865] by HERMAN MELVILLE THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM by HENRY KIRKE WHITE TO MICHAL: SONNETS AFTER MARRIAGE: 8. AFTER RONSARD by CHARLES WILLIAMS |