Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CROSS OF SNOW, by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CROSS OF SNOW, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: In the long, sleepless watches of the night
Last Line: And seasons, changeless since the day she died.
Subject(s): Death; Love - Marital; Dead, The; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


In the long, sleepless watches of the night,
A gentle face -- the face of one long dead --
Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.
Here in this room she died; and soul more white
Never through martyrdom of fire was led
To its repose; nor can in books be read
The legend of a life more benedight.
There is a mountain in the distant West
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines
Displays a cross of snow upon its side.
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes
And seasons, changeless since the day she died.






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