Behold, As Goblins Dark Of Mien

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



BEHOLD, as goblins dark of mien
And portly tyrants dyed with crime
Change, in the transformation scene,
At Christmas, in the pantomime,

Instanter, at the prompter's cough,
The fairy bonnets them, and they
Throw their abhorred carbuncles off
And blossom like the flowers in May.

- So mankind, to angelic eyes,
So, through the scenes of life below,
In life's ironical disguise,
A travesty of man, ye go:

But fear not: ere the curtain fall,
Death in the transformation scene
Steps forward from her pedestal,
Apparent, as the fairy Queen;

And coming, frees you in a trice
From all your lendings - lust of fame,
Ungainly virtue, ugly vice,
Terror and tyranny and shame.

So each, at last himself, for good
In that dear country lays him down,
At last beloved and understood
And pure in feature and renown.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

42 sec read
76

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB XCXC DEDE XAXA FGFG HIHI
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 783
Words 141
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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