'Tis truth (although this truth's a star Too deep-enskied for all to see), As poets of grammar, lovers are The fountains of morality. Child, would you shun the vulgar doom, In love disgust, in death despair? Know, death must come and love must come, And so for each your soul prepare. Who pleasure follows pleasure slays; God's wrath upon himself he wreaks; But all delights rejoice his days Who takes with thanks, and never seeks. The wrong is made and measured by The right's inverted dignity. Change love to shame, as love is high So low in hell your bed shall be. How easy to keep free from sin! How hard that freedom to recall! For dreadful truth it is that men Forget the heavens from which they fall. Lest sacred love your soul ensnare, With pious fancy still infer 'How loving and how lovely fair 'Must He be who has fashion'd her!' Become whatever good you see, Nor sigh if, forthwith, fades from view The grace of which you may not be The subject and spectator too. Love's perfect blossom only blows Where noble manners veil defect. Angels may be familiar; those Who err each other must respect. Love blabb'd of is a great decline; A careless word unsanctions sense; But he who casts Heaven's truth to swine Consummates all incontinence. Not to unveil before the gaze Of an imperfect sympathy In aught we are, is the sweet praise And the main sum of modesty. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPRING SONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE COLORED SOLDIERS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR NATURE'S QUESTIONING by THOMAS HARDY THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS by THOMAS MOORE THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 31. HER GIFTS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI HEALTHFUL OLD AGE, FR. AS YOU LIKE IT by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ON VENUS ARISING FROM THE SEA by ANTIPATER OF SIDON |