Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HERETIC: 2. IRONY, by LOUIS UNTERMEYER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HERETIC: 2. IRONY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Why are the things that have no death
Last Line: And so he dies.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lewis, Michael
Subject(s): Irony; Mankind; Human Race


WHY are the things that have no death
The ones with neither sight nor breath.
Eternity is thrust upon
A bit of earth, a senseless stone.
A grain of dust, a casual clod
Receives the greatest gift of God.
A pebble in the roadway lies—
It never dies.

The grass our fathers cut away
Is growing on their graves to-day;
The tiniest brooks that scarcely flow
Eternally will come and go.
There is no kind of death to kill
The sands that lie so meek and still...
But Man is great and strong and wise—
And so he dies.





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