Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN OLD MAN'S SONG, by HELENE BUHLERT BULLOCK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN OLD MAN'S SONG, by                    
First Line: All day I played, and grew with the flowers
Last Line: "life is death."
Subject(s): Old Age; Wellesley College


All day I played, and grew with the flowers,
(Ireland's hedges are white in May!)
Laughed with the sunlight, cried with the showers,
Loud sang my merry heart,
"Life is play!"

I wedded a maid when the shamrock was green,
(Blue were her eyes as the June sky above!)
I was a king and she was a queen,
Low whispered heart on heart
"Life is love!"

I knelt by the side of her empty bed,
(Ireland was gray in the autumn rain.)
God and the world far away with my dead, --
"Sure," said my breaking heart,
"Life is pain."

All day I sit by the peat-fire's glow;
(Frosty and raw is Ireland's breath.)
Little reck I of the damp or the blow,
Peace keeps my tired heart,
"Life is death."





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