WHAT aim had they, the Pair of Monks, in size Enormous, dragged, while side by side they sate, By panting steers up to this convent gate? How, with empurpled cheeks and pampered eyes, Dare they confront the lean austerities Of Brethren who, here fixed, on Jesu wait In sackcloth, and God's anger deprecate Through all that humbles flesh and mortifies? Strange contrast! -- verily the world of dreams, Where mingle, as for mockery combined, Things in their very essences at strife, Shows not a sight incongruous as the extremes That everywhere, before the thoughtful mind, Meet on the solid ground of waking life. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE YELLOW VIOLET by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT MADLY SINGING IN THE MOUNTAINS by PO CHU-YI LUKE HAVERGAL by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON AMORETTI: 65 by EDMUND SPENSER LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY by JOHN KENDRICK BANGS A PORTRAIT by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD QUATORZAINS: 11. A CLOCK STRIKING AT MIDNIGHT by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |