Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DIRGE, by SAROJINI NAIDU Poet's Biography First Line: What longer need hath she of loveliness Last Line: And flowering springs that mock her empty years? Subject(s): Death; Love - Loss Of; Dead, The | ||||||||
WHAT longer need hath she of loveliness Whom Death has parted from her lord's caress? Of glimmering robes like rainbow-tangled mist, Of gleaming glass or jewels on her wrist, Blossoms or fillet-pearls to deck her head, Or jasmine garlands to adorn her bed? Put by the mirror of her bridal days. ... Why needs she now its counsel or its praise, Or happy symbol of the henna leaf For hands that know the comradeship of grief, Red spices for her lips that drink of sighs, Or black collyrium for her weeping eyes? Shatter her shining bracelets, break the string Threading the mystic marriage-beads that cling Loth to desert a sobbing throat so sweet, Unbind the golden anklets on her feet, Divest her of her azure veils and cloud Her living beauty in a living shroud. Nay, let her be! ... what comfort can we give For joy so frail, for hope so fugitive? The yearning pain of unfulfilled delight, The moonless vigils of her lonely night, For the abysmal anguish of her tears, And flowering springs that mock her empty years? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND A CHALLENGE TO FATE by SAROJINI NAIDU |
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