Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PHOENIX, by IDA CAROTHERS MERRIAM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PHOENIX, by                    
First Line: In time I'll leave this worn - out form
Last Line: Old loves, we know they are not dead!
Subject(s): Aging


In time I'll leave this worn-out form,
With sunken eye and whitened hair
And withered cheek that seem to mask
The radiant youth that once shone there.

When that time comes, farewells still near,
Give not my form an earthy bed
Where worm and mold impatient wait
And Death's own seal will mark my head.

Let cleansing flame remove the mask
And set me free in silver ash,
To drift like smoke from winging plane
Flown high above the lightning's flash.

Quite unafraid shall I then swing
Between blue sky and blooming earth,
And riding high and shining winds,
Exultant, trace the world's whole girth.

The rainbow's arch will fold me in,
And rest I'll find in cool white bars
That ring the moon when skies are pale
And gauzy streamers drape the stars.

For years untold shall I be part
Of day's and night's prismatic tone;
And you shall see, not rosy dawn,
But cheeks now warm against your own;

Not dusky clouds across the sun --
My blowing hair -- you know it well;
Not green-blue sky above the west,
But eyes where love will always dwell.

My voice you'll hear in little winds;
My lips you'll see in sunsets red;
If through the years we see and hear
Old loves, we know they are not dead!





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