Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ROGER WILLIAMS, by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH Poet's Biography First Line: Why do I sleep amid the snows Last Line: And so the pine boughs cover me. Subject(s): Massachusetts; Religious Discrimination; Williams, Roger (1604-1683); Religious Conflict | ||||||||
WHY do I sleep amid the snows, Why do the pine boughs cover me, While dark the wind of winter blows Across the Narragansett's sea? O sense of right! O sense of right, Whate'er my lot in life may be, Thou art to me God's inner light, And these tired feet must follow thee. Yes, still my feet must onward go, With nothing for my hope but prayer, Amid the winds, amid the snow, And trust the ravens of the air. But though alone, and grieved at heart, Bereft of human brotherhood, I trust the whole and not the part, And know that Providence is good. Self-sacrifice is never lost, But bears the seed of its reward; They who for others leave the most, For others gain the most from God. O sense of right! I must obey, And hope and trust, whate'er betide; I cannot always know my way, But I can always know my Guide. And so for me the winter blows Across the Narragansett's sea, And so I sleep beneath the snows, And so the pine boughs cover me. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: YEE BOW by EDGAR LEE MASTERS CASSANDRA SOUTHWICK; 1658 by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER JOHN UNDERHILL by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER LATIMER AND RIDLEY, BURNED AT THE STAKE IN OXFORD, 1555 by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN THE NEW ANTHEM by NORMAN BOLKER AN EXPOSTULATION WITH A SECTARIST, WHO INVEIGHED AGAINST THE CLERGY by JOHN BYROM ON THE GROUND OF TRUE AND FALSE RELIGION by JOHN BYROM A DIALOGUE BETWEEN TWO ZEALOTS UPON THE &C. IN THE OATH by JOHN CLEVELAND THE HUE AND THE CRY AFTER SIR JOHN PRESBYTER by JOHN CLEVELAND FIVE KERNELS OF CORN [APRIL, 1622] by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: A DREAM OF PONCE DE LEON by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH THE THANKSGIVING IN BOSTON HARBOR [JUNE 12, 1630] by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH |
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