 | The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes |  |
THE TOAD AND THE NIGHTINGALE
I cannot say if truth there be
In that fantastic tale
About the bargain made between
The toad and nightingale;—
But thou,—if thou hast ever called
One heavenly gift thine own,—
Hast let it go, and kept unsold
Thine ugliness alone.
In that fantastic tale
About the bargain made between
The toad and nightingale;—
But thou,—if thou hast ever called
One heavenly gift thine own,—
Hast let it go, and kept unsold
Thine ugliness alone.
O would the blazing chandelier,
That lights each hideous line,
But save its rays for eyes that beam
And cast its shade on thine!
O would the laboring echoes cease
Thine accents to repeat!
Thou wert in shadow doubly fair,
In silence doubly sweet!
That lights each hideous line,
But save its rays for eyes that beam
And cast its shade on thine!
O would the laboring echoes cease
Thine accents to repeat!
Thou wert in shadow doubly fair,
In silence doubly sweet!
| The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes | |