Explore "Inspiration" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Not like a daring, bold, aggressive boy, / Is inspiration, eager to pursue, / But rather like a maiden, fond, yet coy, / Who gives herself to him who best doth woo.
Once she may smile, or thrice, thy soul to fire, / In passing by, but when she turns her face, / Thou must persist and seek her with desire, / If thou wouldst win the favour of her grace.
And if, like some winged bird, she cleaves the air, / And leaves thee spent and stricken on the earth, / Still must thou strive to follow even there, / That she may know thy valour and thy worth.
Then shall she come unveiling all her charms, / Giving thee joy for pain, and smiles for tears; / Then shalt thou clasp her with possessing arms, / The while she murmurs music in thine ears.
But ere her kiss has faded from thy cheek, / She shall flee from thee over hill and glade, / So must thou seek and ever seek and seek / For each new conquest of this phantom maid