 | [Poems by Cary in] The Poetical Works Of Alice and Phoebe Cary |  |
THE SADDEST SIGHT.
As one that leadeth a blind man
In a city, to and fro,
Thought, even so,
Leadeth me still wherever it will
Through scenes of joy and woe.
In a city, to and fro,
Thought, even so,
Leadeth me still wherever it will
Through scenes of joy and woe.
I have seen Lear, his white head crowned
With poor straws, playing King;
And, wearying
Her cheeks' young flowers “with true-love showers,”
I have heard Ophelia sing.
With poor straws, playing King;
And, wearying
Her cheeks' young flowers “with true-love showers,”
I have heard Ophelia sing.
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I have been in battles, and I have seen
Stones at the martyrs hurled,—
Seen th' flames curled
Round foreheads bold, and lips whence rolled
The litanies of the world.
Stones at the martyrs hurled,—
Seen th' flames curled
Round foreheads bold, and lips whence rolled
The litanies of the world.
But of all sad sights that ever I saw,
The saddest under the sun,
Is a little one,
Whose poor pale face was despoiled of grace
Ere yet its life begun.
The saddest under the sun,
Is a little one,
Whose poor pale face was despoiled of grace
Ere yet its life begun.
No glimpse of the good green Nature
To gladden with sweet surprise
The staring eyes,
That only have seen, close walls between,
A hand-breadth of the skies.
To gladden with sweet surprise
The staring eyes,
That only have seen, close walls between,
A hand-breadth of the skies.
Ah, never a bird is heard to sing
At the windows under ground,
The long year round;
There, never the morn on her pipes of corn
Maketh a cheerful sound.
At the windows under ground,
The long year round;
There, never the morn on her pipes of corn
Maketh a cheerful sound.
Oh, little white cloud of witnesses
Against your parentage,
May Heaven assuage
The woes that wait on your dark estate,—
Unorphaned orphanage.
Against your parentage,
May Heaven assuage
The woes that wait on your dark estate,—
Unorphaned orphanage.
| [Poems by Cary in] The Poetical Works Of Alice and Phoebe Cary | |