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SIEGE PERILOUS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Long warned of many terrors more severe
Last Line: No fury thundered no flame fell from heaven.


LONG warned of many terrors more severe
To scorch him than hell's engines could awaken,
He scanned again, too far to be so near,
The fearful seat no man had ever taken.

So many other men with older eyes
Than his to see with older sight behind them
Had known so long their one way to be wise,--
Was any other thing to do than mind them?

So many a blasting parallel had seared
Confusion on his faith,--could he but wonder
If he were mad and right, or if he feared
God's fury told in shafted flame and thunder?

There fell one day upon his eyes a light
Ethereal, and he heard no more men speaking;
He saw their shaken heads, but no long sight
Was his but for the end that he went seeking.

The end he sought was not the end; the crown
He won shall unto many still be given.
Moreover, there was reason here to frown:
No fury thundered no flame fell from heaven.





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