AFFECTIONS, Instincts, Principles, and Powers, Impulse and Reason, Freedom and Control-- So men, unravelling God's harmonious whole, Rend in a thousand shreds this life of ours. Vain labour! Deep and broad, where none may see, Spring the foundations of the shadowy throne Where man's one Nature, queen-like, sits alone, Centred in a majestic unity; And rays her powers, like sister islands, seen Linking their coral arms under the sea: Or cluster'd peaks, with plunging gulfs between Spann'd by aerial arches, all of gold; Whereo'er the chariot wheels of Life are roll'd In cloudy circles, to eternity. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO HORACE BUMSTEAD by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE HARD TIMES IN ELFLAND; A STORY OF CHRISTMAS EVE by SIDNEY LANIER TO MY CLASS: ON CERTAIN FRUITS AND FLOWERS SENT ... SICKNESS by SIDNEY LANIER TO TWO UNKNOWN LADIES by AMY LOWELL THE DOLL BELIEVERS by CLARENCE MAJOR THE AWAKENING RIVER by KATHERINE MANSFIELD SONG OF THE MOON by CLAUDE MCKAY |