Explore "Should Lanterns Shine" by Dylan Thomas on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Should lanterns shine, the holy face, / Caught in an octagon of unaccustomed light, / Would wither up, and any boy of love / Look twice before he fell from grace.
The features in their private dark / Are formed of flesh, but let the false day come / And from her lips the added pigments fall, / The mummy cloths expose an ancient breast.
I have been taught to reason by the heart,
But heart, like head, leads helplessly; / I have been told to reason by the pulse, / And, when it quickens, alter the actions' pace / Till field and roof lie level and the same / So fast I move defying time, the quiet gentleman
Whose beard wags in Egyptian wind.
I have heard many years of telling, / And many years should see some change.
The ball I threw while playing in the park / Has not yet reached the ground.