O! How can Love exulting Reason quell! How fades each nobler passion from his gaze! E'en Fame, that cherishes the Poet's lays, That fame, ill-fated Sappho loved so well. Lost is the wretch, who in his fatal spell Wastes the short summer of delicious days, And from the tranquil path of wisdom strays, In passion's thorny wild, forlorn to dwell. O ye! who in that sacred temple smile Where holy Innocence resides enshrined; Who fear not sorrow, and who know not guile, Each thought composed, and every wish resigned; Tempt not the path where pleasure's flowery wile In sweet, but poisonous fetters, holds the mind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MEDITATION ON RHODE ISLAND COAL by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT WHEN I'M KILLED by ROBERT RANKE GRAVES SOJOURN IN THE WHALE by MARIANNE MOORE ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA by PHILLIS WHEATLEY |