488. Opportunity by James Elroy Flecker
b'JE Flecker read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\n\\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\\n\\n---------------------------------------\\n\\nOpportunity\\nby James Elroy Flecker (1884 \\u2013 1915)\\n\\nFrom Machiavelli\\n\\n"But who art thou, with curious beauty graced,\\nO woman, stamped with some bright heavenly seal\\nWhy go thy feet on wings, and in such haste?"\\n\\n"I am that maid whose secret few may steal,\\nCalled Opportunity. I hasten by\\nBecause my feet are treading on a wheel,\\n\\nBeing more swift to run than birds to fly.\\nAnd rightly on my feet my wings I wear,\\nTo blind the sight of those who track and spy;\\n\\nRightly in front I hold my scattered hair\\nTo veil my face, and down my breast to fall,\\nLest men should know my name when I am there;\\n\\nAnd leave behind my back no wisp at all\\nFor eager folk to clutch, what time I glide\\nSo near, and turn, and pass beyond recall."\\n\\n"Tell me; who is that Figure at thy side?"\\n"Penitence. Mark this well that by decree\\nWho lets me go must keep her for his bride.\\n\\nAnd thou hast spent much time in talk with me\\nBusied with thoughts and fancies vainly grand,\\nNor hast remarked, O fool, neither dost see\\nHow lightly I have fled beneath thy hand."\\n\\n\\nFirst aired: 25 July 2007\\n\\nFor hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\\n\\nReading \\xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2009'