Random Poetry

Three random poems from PoetryDB

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The Harp the Monarch Minstrel Swept

— George Gordon, Lord Byron
  The Harp the Monarch Minstrel swept,
    The King of men, the loved of Heaven!
  Which Music hallowed while she wept
    O'er tones her heart of hearts had given--
Redoubled be her tears, its chords are riven!
  It softened men of iron mould,
    It gave them virtues not their own;
  No ear so dull, no soul so cold,
    That felt not--fired not to the tone,
Till David's Lyre grew mightier than his Throne!

  It told the triumphs of our King,
    It wafted glory to our God;
  It made our gladdened valleys ring,
    The cedars bow, the mountains nod;
Its sound aspired to Heaven and there abode!
  Since then, though heard on earth no more,
    Devotion and her daughter Love
  Still bid the bursting spirit soar
    To sounds that seem as from above,
In dreams that day's broad light can not remove.

The Young May Moon

— Thomas Moore
The young May moon is beaming, love.
The glow-worm's lamp is gleaming, love.
How sweet to rove,
Through Morna's grove,
When the drowsy world is dreaming, love!
Then awake! -- the heavens look bright, my dear,
'Tis never too late for delight, my dear,
And the best of all ways
To lengthen our days
Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear!

Now all the world is sleeping, love,
But the Sage, his star-watch keeping, love,
And I, whose star,
More glorious far,
Is the eye from that casement peeping, love.
Then awake! -- till rise of sun, my dear,
The Sage's glass we'll shun, my dear,
Or, in watching the flight
Of bodies of light,
He might happen to take thee for one, my dear.

Lines: 'When the Lamp Is Shattered'

— Percy Bysshe Shelley
When the lamp is shattered
The light in the dust lies dead--
When the cloud is scattered
The rainbow's glory is shed.
When the lute is broken,
Sweet tones are remembered not;
When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.

As music and splendour
Survive not the lamp and the lute,
The heart's echoes render
No song when the spirit is mute:--
No song but sad dirges,
Like the wind through a ruined cell,
Or the mournful surges
That ring the dead seaman's knell.

When hearts have once mingled
Love first leaves the well-built nest;
The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possessed.
O Love! who bewailest
The frailty of all things here,
Why choose you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?

Its passions will rock thee
As the storms rock the ravens on high;
Bright reason will mock thee,
Like the sun from a wintry sky.
From thy nest every rafter
Will rot, and thine eagle home
Leave thee naked to laughter,
When leaves fall and cold winds come.