As Winds That Blow Against a Star by Joyce Kilmer
When I first read this poem I didn’t really absorb it because my focus was drawn to the rhymes. After rereading it, I’m rather surprised that I like the sentiment, given my penchant for dark and depressing poems. I guess I could stand to be reminded that “the darts of toil and sorrow” will not always triumph!
As Winds That Blow Against a Star
By Joyce Kilmer
(For Aline)
Now by what whim of wanton chance
Do radiant eyes know sombre days?
And feet that shod in light should dance
Walk weary and laborious ways?
But rays from Heaven, white and whole,
May penetrate the gloom of earth;
And tears but nourish, in your soul,
The glory of celestial mirth.
The darts of toil and sorrow, sent
Against your peaceful beauty, are
As foolish and as impotent
As winds that blow against a star.
That last couplet is devastatingly beautiful.
I agree that rhyme can be distracting at times. Perhaps it’s merely a measure of separation from old-timey aesthetics, but an overly thumpity-thumpity rhythm can throw me off too (but there’s nothing like that meter in Kilmer here).
Thanks for seeing and listening past the rhyme to share with your readers!