Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO DEATH, by WILLIBALD CHRISTOPH GLUCK


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO DEATH, by                    
First Line: Methinks it were no pain to die
Last Line: I would I were away!
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


Methinks it were no pain to die
On such an eve, when such a sky
O'er canopies the west;
To gaze my fill on yon calm deep,
And, like an infant, fall asleep
On Earth, my mother's breast.
There's peace and welcome in yon sea
Of endless blue tranquility:
These clouds are living things;
I trace their veins of liquid gold,
I see them solemnly unfold
Their soft and fleecy wings.
These be the angels that convey
Us weary children of a day --
Life's tedious nothing o'er --
Where neither passions come, nor woes,
To vex the genius of repose
On Death's majestic shore.
No darkness there divides the sway
With startling dawn and dazzling day;
But gloriously serene
Are the interminable plains:
One fixed, eternal sunset reigns
O'er the wide silent scene.
I cannot doff all human fear;
I know thy greeting is severe
To this poor shell of clay;
Yet come, O Death! thy freezing kiss
Emancipates! thy rest is bliss!
I would I were away!




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