Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LIFE AND DEATH, by RICHARD WATSON GILDER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LIFE AND DEATH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What, then, is life, - what death?
Last Line: Death but the pause between.
Subject(s): Death; Life; Music & Musicians; Dead, The


WHAT, then, is Life, -- what Death?
Thus the Answerer saith;
O faithless mortal, bend thy head and listen:

Down o'er the vibrant strings,
That thrill, and moan and mourn, and glisten,
The Master draws his bow.
A voiceless pause; then upward, see, it springs,
Free as a bird with disimprisoned wings!

In twain the chord was cloven,
While, shaken with woe,
With breaks of instant joy all interwoven,
Piercing the heart with lyric knife,
On, on the ceaseless music sings,
Restless, intense, serene: --
Life is the downward stroke; the upward, Life;
Death but the pause between.







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