Music is writ by the deaf and poems by the blind. The sage who utters wisdom has little on the mind. Before I had to use them to find my way about, Mine eyes would let in Beauty and shut Time out. When I was able to keep the world hid, Beauty would nestle under each lid. When I heard nothing, there echoed in my ears Certain cadenzas from the Symphony of Spheres. And in a mind sinless of thought, Fragments of wisdom casually caught. Now, what would you? Mind, ears and eyes must guard me like sentinels and serve me like spies. They must be wide open to see and to hear All that is obvious and all that is near, And to think shrewd thoughts with logic and reason, And know what the time is and what's the season. So while I must think and see and hear And hold my soul taut to grapple Fear. The leering tyrant of the world I live in, Swift to crush me if I give in, Beauty cannot come stealing from behind, Nor fragments of wisdom catch in the mind. The best I can do is now and then to fashion Some measured thought with guarded passion. But till I'm blind again and deaf, I assure you, I'll write no poems to lift and allure you. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A PINE TREE by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE AUTHOR'S EPITAPH, MADE BY HIMSELF by WALTER RALEIGH TRACT by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS ANNA BULLEN, ACT 1: SHORT CURSE by JOHN BANKS (17TH CENTURY-) SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 44. ISEULT by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |