IF TO grow old in Heaven is to grow young, (As the Seer saw and said,) then blest were he With youth for evermore, whose heaven should be True Woman, she whom these weak notes have sung. Here and hereafter,--choir-strains of her tongue,-- Sky-spaces of her eyes,--sweet signs that flee About her soul's immediate sanctuary,-- Were Paradise all uttermost worlds among. The sunrise blooms and withers on the hill Like any hillflower; and the noblest troth Dies here to dust. Yet shall Heaven's promise clothe Even yet those lovers who have cherished still This test for love:--in every kiss sealed fast To feel the first kiss and forbode the last. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THRENODY by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE LION'S RIDE by FERDINAND FREILIGRATH NEW YORK AT NIGHT by AMY LOWELL FRIENDSHIP'S MYSTERY, TO MY DEAREST LUCASIA by KATHERINE PHILIPS AT FLORENCE by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH EPITAPH by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE THE WOOD THRUSH by SUSAN SHARP ADAMS FRIAR JEROME'S BEAUTIFUL BOOK; A.D. 1200 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |