'Tis good our earliest sympathies to trace, And I would muse upon a little thing - What brought the blush into the infant's face When first confronted with the rueful king? He boldly came - what made his courage less? A signal for the heart to beat less free Are all imperial presences, and he Was aw'd by Death's consummate kingliness; A strange bewilder'd look of shame he wore; 'Twas the first mortal hint that cross'd the lad; He fear'd the stranger, tho' he knew no more, Surmising and surprised, but most, afraid, As Crusoe wandering on the desert shore Saw but an alien footmark and was sad! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAST POST by ROBERT RANKE GRAVES A DUTCH PROVERB by MATTHEW PRIOR WASHINGTON'S MONUMENT, FEBRUARY, 1885 by WALT WHITMAN A SNOWFLAKE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH SONNET: ENGLAND by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |