FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   >>  
ut yield them to thy bitter need. Unwillingly, I own, and, what is worse, Full angrily, men listen to thy plaint; Thou gettest many a brush and many a curse, For saying thou art gaunt, and starved, and faint. Even the old beggar, while he asks for food, Would kill thee, hapless stranger, if he could. I call thee stranger, for the town, I ween, Has not the honor of so proud a birth: Thou com'st from Jersey meadows, fresh and green, The offspring of the gods, though born on earth; For Titan was thy sire, and fair was she, The ocean-nymph that nursed thy infancy. Beneath the rushes was thy cradle swung, And when at length thy gauzy wings grew strong, Abroad to gentle airs their folds were flung, Rose in the sky and bore thee soft along; The south wind breathed to waft thee on thy way, And danced and shone beneath the billowy bay. Calm rose afar the city spires, and thence Came the deep murmur of its throng of men, And as its grateful odors met thy sense, They seemed the perfumes of thy native fen. Fair lay its crowded streets, and at the sight Thy tiny song grew shriller with delight. At length thy pinion fluttered in Broadway,-- Ah, there were fairy steps, and white necks kissed By wanton airs, and eyes whose killing ray Shone through the snowy veils like stars through mist; And fresh as morn, on many a cheek and chin, Bloomed the bright blood through the transparent skin. Sure these were sights to tempt an anchorite! What! do I hear thy slender voice complain? Thou wailest when I talk of beauty's light, As if it brought the memory of pain. Thou art a wayward being--well, come near, And pour thy tale of sorrow in mine ear. What say'st thou, slanderer! rouge makes thee sick? And China Bloom at best is sorry food? And Rowland's Kalydor, if laid on thick, Poisons the thirsty wretch that bores for blood? Go! 'twas a just reward that met thy crime; But shun the sacrilege another time. That bloom was made to look at,--not to touch; To worship, not approach, that radiant white; And well might sudden vengeance light on such As dared, like thee, most impiously to bite. Thou shouldst have gazed at distance, and admired,-- Murmured thy admiration and retired. Thou'rt welcome to t
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   >>  



Top keywords:
stranger
 

length

 

killing

 

beauty

 

brought

 
wayward
 
kissed
 

wanton

 
memory
 

transparent


Bloomed

 

bright

 
slender
 

complain

 
sights
 

anchorite

 
wailest
 
radiant
 

approach

 

sudden


vengeance

 

worship

 

admiration

 

Murmured

 

retired

 

admired

 

distance

 

impiously

 

shouldst

 

sacrilege


slanderer

 
sorrow
 

Rowland

 

Kalydor

 

reward

 
Poisons
 

thirsty

 
wretch
 

Jersey

 
meadows

offspring
 

nursed

 
infancy
 
Beneath
 

hapless

 

angrily

 
plaint
 

listen

 
Unwillingly
 

bitter