AS GROWTH of form or momentary glance In a child's features will recall to mind The father's with the mother's face combin'd,-- Sweet interchange that memories still enhance: And yet, as childhood's years and youth's advance, The gradual mouldings leave one stamp behind, Till in the blended likeness now we find A separate man's or woman's countenance:-- So in the Song, the singer's Joy and Pain, Its very parents, evermore expand To bid the passion's fullgrown birth remain, By Art's transfiguring essence subtly spann'd; And from that song-cloud shaped as a man's hand There comes the sound as of abundant rain. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PLEASURE MIXED WITH PAIN by THOMAS WYATT WELCOME by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) AN EPITAPH ON M.H. by CHARLES COTTON RESURRECTION, IMPERFECT by JOHN DONNE FLOWER-GATHERING by ROBERT FROST MOTHER O' MINE by RUDYARD KIPLING SONNET: DEATH-WARNINGS by FRANCISCO GOMEZ DE QUEVEDO Y VILLEGAS |