Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WHEN ALL IS DONE, by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WHEN ALL IS DONE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When all is done, and my last word is said
Last Line: When all is done.
Subject(s): Religion; Theology


WHEN all is done, and my last word is said,
And ye who loved me murmur, "He is dead,"
Let no one weep, for fear that I should know,
And sorrow too that ye should sorrow so.

When all is done and in the oozing clay,
Ye lay this cast-off hull of mine away,
Pray not for me, for, after long despair,
The quiet of the grave will be a prayer.

For I have suffered loss and grievous pain,
The hurts of hatred and the world's disdain,
And wounds so deep that love, well-tried and pure,
Had not the pow'r to ease them or to cure.

When all is done, say not my day is o'er,
And that thro' night I seek a dimmer shore:
Say rather that my morn has just begun, --
I greet the dawn and not a setting sun,
When all is done.





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