HIS Soul fared forth (as from the deep home-grove The father-songster plies the hour-long quest,) To feed his soul-brood hungering in the nest; But his warm Heart, the mother-bird, above Their callow fledgling progeny still hove With tented roof of wings and fostering breast Till the Soul fed the soul-brood. Richly blest From Heaven their growth, whose food was Human Love. Yet ah! Like desert pools that show the stars Once in long leagues,--even such the scarce-snatched hours Which deepening pain left to his lordliest powers:-- Heaven lost through spider-trammelled prison-bars. Six years, from sixty saved! Yet kindling skies Own them, a beacon to our centuries. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...YOUTH'S IMMORTALITY by GEORGE SANTAYANA EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: THE BEGINNER by RUDYARD KIPLING CREPUSCULE DU MATIN; SONNET by AMY LOWELL THE SPELL OF THE YUKON by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE PENISKEE by THOMAS GOLD APPLETON A SCHOOL ECLOGUE by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD POLYHYMNIA: DEDICATION TO THE COUNTESS OF LINDSEY by WILLIAM BASSE |