Read "Paradox" by Willa Cather online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I knew them both upon Miranda's isle, / Which is of youth a sea-bound seigniory: / Misshapen Caliban, so seeming vile, / And Ariel, proud prince of minstrelsy, / Who did forsake the sunset for my tower / And like a star above my slumber burned. / The night was held in silver chains by power / Of melody, in which all longings yearned -- / Star-grasping youth in one wild strain expressed, / Tender as dawn, insistent as the tide; / The heart of night and summer stood confessed. / I rose aglow and flung the lattice wide -- / Ah, jest of art, what mockery and pang! / Alack, it was poor Caliban who sang.