NOT on the neck of prince or hound Nor on a woman's finger twin'd, May gold from the deriding ground Keep sacred that we sacred bind: Only the heel Of splendid steel Shall stand secure on sliding fate, When golden navies weep their freight. The scarlet hat, the laurell'd stave Are measures, not the springs, of worth; In a wife's lap, as in a grave, Man's airy notions mix with earth. Seek other spur Bravely to stir The dust in this loud world, and tread Alp-high among the whisp'ring dead. @3Trust in thyself@1, -- then spur amain: So shall Charybdis wear a grace, Grim AEtna laugh, the Libyan plain Take roses to her shrivell'd face. This orb -- this round Of sight and sound -- Count it the lists that God hath built For haughty hearts to ride a-tilt. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CENCI; A TRAGEDY: ACTS 4-5 by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT; AN ODE ATTEMPTED IN ENGLISH SAPPHIC by ISAAC WATTS THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by MARIA ABDY REMINISCENCE by DOROTHY ALLISON BLAKE'S APOLOGY FOR HIS CATALOGUE by WILLIAM BLAKE BUCH DER LIEDER by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES |