AND shall not Beauty reign beyond the grave? There Life is, Life eternal, there as here: For none may die, tho' he desire the dear And dark repose of Death's abysmal wave; Thro' Life's unending round for aeons still, Even as we moved, so must we move and change Thro' all the marvels of her mystic range: Sea, rose or tempest, soul or star or hill. But only here, perchance, we know the grace Of Beauty and the magic of her dream, And here I love to watch the things that seem: The dawn that filters thro' the veils of space; The noon that spreads a glare implacable O'er all the plain, and drives the shepherd home; The peace of forests, and the greeny dome Of ancient oaks above a holy well. I hold my breath until the blackbird stops; I mark enchanted, past our cottage eaves, The roses of the sunset shed their leaves In shining pink upon the mountain tops. I watch a lonely fountain dance all night In silver music to the silent moon; While, trembling thro' the milky skies of June, The stars shine faintly amid the flooding light. I dream; I mix divinely soul and earth. But if hereafter, 'mid the moving stars, We find thee not in our long avatars, May I forget thee, O Beauty, and thy dearth! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN ODE UPON A QUESTION WHETHER LOVE SHOULD CONTINUE FOREVER by EDWARD HERBERT ADONAIS; AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF JOHN KEATS by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY PAN IN WALL STREET by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN WILD PLUM BLOSSOMS by EVA K. ANGLESBURG THE HWOMESTEAD A-VELL INTO HAND by WILLIAM BARNES SONNET: 2 by GWENDOLYN B. BENNETT |