KNOCKING, knocking, ever knocking? Who is there? 'T is a pilgrim strange and kingly, Never such was seen before; -- Ah, sweet soul, for such a wonder, Undo the door. No, -- that door is hard to open; Hinges rusty, latch is broken; Bid Him go. Wherefore with that knocking dreary Scare the sleep from one so weary? Say Him, no. Knocking, knocking, ever knocking? What! Still there? O sweet soul, but once behold Him, With the glory-crowned hair; And those eyes, so strange and tender, Waiting there; Open! Open! Once behold him, Him so fair. Ah,that door ! Why wilt thou vex me, Coming ever to perplex me? For the key is stiffly rusty And the bolt is clogged and dusty; Many-fingered ivy vine Seals it fast with twist and twine; Weeds of years and years before Choke the passage of that door. Knocking! knocking! What? Still knocking? He still there? What's the hour? The night is waning -- In my heart a drear complaining, And a chilly, sad unrest. Ah, this knocking! It disturbs me! Scares my sleep with dreams unblest! Give me rest, Rest -- ah, rest! Rest, dear soul, He longs to give thee; Thou hast only dreamed of pleasure, Dreamed of gifts and golden treasure, Dreamed of jewels in tby keeping, Waked to weariness of weeping; -- Open to thy soul's one Lover, And thy night of dreams is over, -- The true gifts He brings have seeming More than all thy faded dreaming! Did she open? Doth she? Will she? So, as wondering we behold, Grows the picture to a sign, Pressed upon your soul and mine; For in every breast that liveth Is that strange, mysterious door; -- The forsaken and betangled, Ivy-gnarled and weed-bejangled, Dusty, rusty, and forgotten; -- There the pierced hand still knocketh, And with ever patient watching, With the sad eyes true and tender, With the glory-crowned hair, -- Still a God is waiting, there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SHAPE OF THE CORONER by WALLACE STEVENS DENIAL [OR, DENIALL] by GEORGE HERBERT MODERN MANNERS by MARY (CUMBERLAND) ALCOCK THE ORGANIST by KATHARINE LEE BATES TO A DISCIPLE OF WILLIAM MORRIS by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |