Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, YOUTH'S IMMORTALITY, by GEORGE SANTAYANA



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

YOUTH'S IMMORTALITY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: What, when hearts have met, shall sever
Last Line: Living in the things we love.
Subject(s): Immortality


What, when hearts have met, shall sever
Heart from heart, though heaven fall?
They alone are dead for ever
Who have never lived at all.
Roses that have bloomed to sweetness
Never can untimely fade,
Blessed by death in their completeness
And on beauty's bosom laid,
Garnered in the breast eternal
Where all noble joys are one,
Sweet Elysium, fair and vernal,
Where they mount who face the sun.
Happy he whom men call lonely,
Whose companion is the truth,
And whose heart is ravished only
By the world's immortal youth.
Happy he whose single treasure
Is the infinite unfurled,
And whose voice has caught the measure
Of the music of the world.
When Death gathers up our ashes
And our sorry shades depart,
Lo, Life's flame, rekindled, flashes
From another mortal heart,
And Death turns about, derided
By the Life he would deride.
Vainly space and time divided
What eternity allied.
One great hope guides all our seeing,
One pure heaven lends us light.
Love is still the crown of being,
Faith the better part of sight.
The same wisdom's ancient pages
Stir again the generous soul
To the mighty task of ages
Crawling still to reason's goal.
The prophetic Muse of Story
Sings her ancient legend o'er,
And the sea, still young and hoary,
Chants along the beaten shore.
Spring yet yields her flowery treasures
To the guiltless hands of boys,
Chastening their noisy pleasures
To the depth of human joys.
One eternal passion drives us,
Zealots of the stars above,
And our better part survives us,
Living in the things we love.





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