Topic: Death

Envoi

Oh, seek me not within a tomb— Thou shalt not find me in the clay! I pierce a little wall of gloom To mingle with the day! I brothered with the things that pass, Poor giddy joy and puckered grief; I go to brother with the grass And with the sunning leaf. Not...

By John G. Neihardt
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13 April

A Legend of the Dove

Soft from the linden’s bough, Unmoved against the tranquil afternoon, Eve’s dove laments her now: “Ah, gone! long gone! shall not I find thee soon?” That yearning in his voice Told not to Paradise a sorrow’s tale: As other birds rejoice He sang, a brother to the nightingale. By twilight on her breast He...

By George Sterling
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28 March

After Death

Now while my lips are living Their words must stay unsaid, And will my soul remember To speak when I am dead? Yet if my soul remembered You would not heed it, dear, For now you must not listen, And then you could not hear. Sara Teasdale...

By Sara Teasdale
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24 March

“I Have a Rendezvous with Death”

I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade, When Spring comes back with rustling shade And apple-blossoms fill the air— I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair. It may be he shall take my hand And lead me into his dark land And close...

By Alan Seeger
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16 March

Drum-Taps (A Selection)

Aroused and angry, I thought to beat the alarum, and urge relentless war; But soon my fingers fail’d me, my face droop’d, and I resign’d myself, To sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead. ...

By Walt Whitman
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07 March

The Lady’s Yes

“YES!” I answered you last night: “No!” this morning, sir, I say. Colors seen by candle-light Will not look the same by day. When the tabors played their best, Lamps above, and laughs below, Love me sounded like a jest, Fit for Yes,...

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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14 February

Song of Saul before his Last Battle

Warriors and chiefs! should the shaft or sword Pierce me in leading the host of the Lord, Heed not the corse, though a king’s, in your path: Bury your steel in the bosoms of Gath! Thou who art bearing my buckler and bow, Should the soldiers of Saul look away...

By Lord Byron
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05 February

Omar Khayyám

To A. L. Sayer of sooth, and Searcher of dim skies! Lover of Song, and Sun, and Summertide, For whom so many roses bloomed and died; Tender Interpreter, most sadly wise, Of earth’s dumb, inarticulated cries! Time’s self cannot estrange us, nor divide; Thy hand still beckons from the garden-side, Through green vine-garlands,...

By Graham R. Thomson
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27 January

Maternity

HER body, sweet to be his food, Yields him his precious milk and good. No body of death but life, see then The sacred body of Motherhood! Her heart, by one sweet guest renewed, Hath room for all earth’s hapless brood. Yea, wounds...

By Katharine Tynan Hinkson
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24 January

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that...

By Dylan Thomas
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11 January