Oh! deaf to Science and her faithful words! I counted on those fires of prophecy No more than on some flight of midnight birds, That pass, unheralded, with sudden cry, - That never travelled under Humboldt's eye, Nor owed themselves at Greenwich. Thirty years Must pass ere such bright vision reappears, And then I shall be dead or near to die; Or, should my life bridge over that great gap, I cannot vouch for my decrepit self, With feeble knees, weak eyes, and velvet cap, And all my forethought laid upon the shelf; But some good youth, or maid, or rosy elf, Shall set my thin face heavenward, it may hap. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GO SLEEP, MA HONEY by EDWARD D. BARKER JOHN KEATS (1) by GEORGE GORDON BYRON A STRIP OF BLUE by LUCY LARCOM THIRTY EIGHT. ADDRESSED TO MRS. H -- Y. by CHARLOTTE SMITH A SUMMER NIGHT by MATTHEW ARNOLD CLIO, NINE ECLOGUES IN HONOUR OF NINE VIRTUES: 4. WORTHY MEMORY by WILLIAM BASSE |