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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON THE TOWER, by ANNETTE ELISABETH VON DROSTE-HULSHOFF First Line: I stand aloft on the balcony Last Line: And give to the wind my tresses. Alternate Author Name(s): Droste-hulshoff, Annette Von | |||
I STAND aloft on the balcony, The starlings around me crying, And let like mænad my hair stream free To the storm o'er the ramparts flying. Oh headlong wind, on this narrow ledge I would I could try thy muscle And, breast to breast, two steps from the edge, Fight it out in a deadly tussle. Beneath me I see, like hounds at play, How billow on billow dashes; Yea, tossing aloft the glittering spray, The fierce throng hisses and clashes. Oh, might I leap into the raging flood And urge on the pack to harry The hidden glades of the coral wood, For the walrus, a worthy quarry! From yonder mast a flag streams out As bold as a royal pennant; I can watch the good ship lunge about From this tower of which I am tenant; But oh, might I be in the battling ship, Might I seize the rudder and steer her, How gay o'er the foaming reef we'd slip Like the sea-gulls circling near her! Were I a hunter wandering free, Or a soldier in some sort of fashion, Or if I at least a man might be, The heav'ns would grant me my passion. But now I must sit as fine and still As a child in its best of dresses, And only in secret may have my will And give to the wind my tresses. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BOY ON THE MOOR by ANNETTE ELISABETH VON DROSTE-HULSHOFF THE DESOLATE HOUSE by ANNETTE ELISABETH VON DROSTE-HULSHOFF THE HOUSE IN THE HEATH by ANNETTE ELISABETH VON DROSTE-HULSHOFF SURFACES AND MASKS; 1 by CLARENCE MAJOR TO TIRZAH, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE REMEMBRANCE by JOHN HENRY BONER UPON THE DEATH OF THE LORD HASTINGS by JOHN DRYDEN BROTHERS by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD MORNING by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES THE LORD OF BURLEIGH by ALFRED TENNYSON |
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