If any have a stone to shy, Let him be David and not I; The lovely shepherd, brave and vain, Who has a maggot in the brain, Which, since the brain is bold and pliant, Takes the proportions of a giant. Alas, my legendary fate! Who sometimes rage, but never hate. Long, long before the pebble flieth I see a virtue in Goliath; Then like the lights of evening shine The features of the Philistine Until my spirit faints to see The beauty of my enemy. If any have a stone to fling Let him be a shepherd-king, Who is himself so beautiful He may detest the gross and dull With holy rage and heavenly pride To make a pebble sanctified And feather its course with wings of scorn. But, from the day that I was born Until like corn I bow to the sickle, I am in hatred false and fickle. I am most cruel to anyone Who hates me with devotion; I will not freeze, I will not burn; I make his heart a poor return For all the passion that he spends In swearing we shall never be friends; For all the pains his passion spent In hatred I am impotent; The sad perversity of my mind Sees in him my kin and kind. Alas, to lack the power to loathe! I like them each; I love them both; Philistine and shepherd-king They strike the pebble from my sling; My heart grows cold, my spirit grows faint; Behold, a hero and a saint Where appeared, a moment since, A giant and a heathen prince; And I am bound and given over To be no better than a lover, Alas, who strove as a holy rebel! They have broke my sling and stole my pebble: If any have a stone to throw It is not I, ever or now. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COLUMBUS [AUGUST 3, 1492] by JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER SONNET (3) by CHARLES HAMILTON SORLEY AT THE CARNIVAL by ANNE SPENCER THE CENTAUR'S FAREWELL by WILLIAM ROSE BENET AN EVENING REVERY by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT MY CHASTE MISTRESS by GOTTFRIED AUGUST BURGER CLOWNS' DAY by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |