Sonnet XLIV [For Thee the Sun Doth Daily Rise, and Set]
For thee the sun doth daily rise, and set
Behind the curtain of the hills of sleep,
And my soul, passing through the nether deep,
Broods on thy love, and never can forget.
For thee the garlands of the wood are wet,
For thee the daisies up the meadow’s sweep
Stir in the sidelong light, and for thee weep
The drooping ferns above the violet.
For thee the labour of my studious ease
I ply with hope, for thee all pleasures please,
Thy sweetness doth the bread of sorrow leaven;
And from thy noble lips and heart of gold
I drink the comfort of the faiths of old,
Any thy perfection is my proof of heaven.
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on December 22, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.
“Sonnet XLIV” originally appeared in Sonnets and Other Verses (Stone and Kimball, 1896).
George Santayana
George Santayana, born Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, on December 16, 1863, in Madrid, was a philosopher, critic, poet, and novelist. He was the author of many books, including The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1896) and Three Philosophical Poets: Lucretius, Dante And Goethe (Harvard University, 1910).