The professor and other poems by Arthur Christopher Benson |
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 | The professor and other poems |  |
36
16
AFTER THE INTERVIEW
A gracious and tender spirit
Has bent from her starry sphere.
What was there in me to merit
A gift so daring and dear?
Has bent from her starry sphere.
What was there in me to merit
A gift so daring and dear?
Did she pity me, dark and lonely—
So rich, did she yearn to bless
A heart that aspired not, only
Was fainting for weariness?
So rich, did she yearn to bless
A heart that aspired not, only
Was fainting for weariness?
I seemed, as I sat beside her,
So angular, harsh, and grim,
As lean as a dusty spider
That swings in his cordage dim.
So angular, harsh, and grim,
As lean as a dusty spider
That swings in his cordage dim.
37
Tenderness or compassion?
Whichever it was, 'twas sweet,
As I flung, in my awkward fashion,
A dreary heart at her feet.
Whichever it was, 'twas sweet,
As I flung, in my awkward fashion,
A dreary heart at her feet.
Glory and grace attend her,
Worship and hope most dear,
That spirit, gracious and tender,
Who bent from her starry sphere.
Worship and hope most dear,
That spirit, gracious and tender,
Who bent from her starry sphere.
| The professor and other poems | |