The Glory

Edward Thomas 1878 (London Borough of Lambeth) – 1917 (Pas-de-Calais)



The glory of the beauty of the morning, -
The cuckoo crying over the untouched dew;
The blackbird that has found it, and the dove
That tempts me on to something sweeter than love;
White clouds ranged even and fair as new-mown hay;
The heat, the stir, the sublime vacancy
Of sky and meadow and forest and my own heart: -
The glory invites me, yet it leaves me scorning
All I can ever do, all I can be,
Beside the lovely of motion, shape, and hue,
The happiness I fancy fit to dwell
In beauty's presence. Shall I now this day
Begin to seek as far as heaven, as hell,
Wisdom or strength to match this beauty, start
And tread the pale dust pitted with small dark drops,
In hope to find whatever it is I seek,
Hearkening to short-lived happy-seeming things
That we know naught of, in the hazel copse?
Or must I be content with discontent
As larks and swallows are perhaps with wings?
And shall I ask at the day's end once more
What beauty is, and what I can have meant
By happiness? And shall I let all go,
Glad, weary, or both? Or shall I perhaps know
That I was happy oft and oft before,
Awhile forgetting how I am fast pent,
How dreary-swift, with naught to travel to,
Is Time? I cannot bite the day to the core.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

1:11 min read
115

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCCDEFAEBGDGFHIJEKJLKMMLKBL
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,205
Words 237
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 28

Edward Thomas

Philip Edward Thomas was an Anglo-Welsh poet and essayist. more…

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    "The Glory" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/9890/the-glory>.

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