Lord Alfred Douglas

Here you will find the Poem The City of the Soul: II of poet Lord Alfred Douglas

The City of the Soul: II

What shall we do, my soul, to please the King? 
Seeing he hath no pleasure in the dance, 
And hath condemned the honeyed utterance 
Of silver flutes and mouths made round to sing. 
Along the wall red roses climb and cling, 
And oh! my prince, lift up thy countenance, 
For there be thoughts like roses that entrance 
More than the languors of soft lute-playing. 

Think how the hidden things that poets see 
In amber eves or mornings crystalline, 
Hide in the soul their constant quenchless light, 
Till, called by some celestial alchemy, 
Out of forgotten depths, they rise and shine 
Like buried treasure on Midsummer night.