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1859–1907

THE HEART.

Francis Thompson

The heart you hold too small and local thing, Such spacious terms of edifice to bear. And yet, since Poesy first shook out her wing, The mighty Love has been impalaced there;

That has she given him as his wide demesne, And for his sceptre ample empery; Against its door to knock has Beauty been Content; it has its purple canopy

A dais for the sovereign lady spread Of many a lover, who the heaven would think Too low an awning for her sacred head. The world, from star to sea, cast down its brink —

Yet shall that chasm, till He Who these did build An awful Curtius make Him, yawn unfilled.

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THE HEART. · Francis Thompson · Poetry Cove