 | The Autumn Garden |  |
5
A London Fog
In blue-gray fog, as in the sea, we drown;
The unseen rain soaks down;
Like broken phantom pillars, from each roof
The chimneys soar aloof.
The unseen rain soaks down;
Like broken phantom pillars, from each roof
The chimneys soar aloof.
The sky, lost, like some ocean from below,
Melts in one general flow;
Vague, dull, immense, splashed with the light of tears,
The long dim pavement sheers.
Melts in one general flow;
Vague, dull, immense, splashed with the light of tears,
The long dim pavement sheers.
And now, and now, across its sullied glass,
The blotted figures pass;—
Hope, poverty, ambition, lust, and pain
Glide, muffled, thro' the rain.
The blotted figures pass;—
Hope, poverty, ambition, lust, and pain
Glide, muffled, thro' the rain.
And she whom most we love, or that fell head
Our thoughts hate most, and dread,
Might cleave the blueness at our cheek, nor make
One sentry-nerve awake.
Our thoughts hate most, and dread,
Might cleave the blueness at our cheek, nor make
One sentry-nerve awake.
This is an image of indifferent death,
That chokes the ardent breath,
Bids the warm eye be veiled, the heart beat slow,
The tide of self slip low;
That chokes the ardent breath,
Bids the warm eye be veiled, the heart beat slow,
The tide of self slip low;
6
And with its universal chill prepares
This creature of bright airs
For faint eternal grades of misty blue,
And mazes without clue.
This creature of bright airs
For faint eternal grades of misty blue,
And mazes without clue.
| The Autumn Garden | |