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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
EPOLOGUE (TO THE LORDS OF LIFE AND DEATH), by AUSTIN PHILIPS
First Line: Since you decreed / that each hour of my life
Last Line: Let death, when due, come swift!
Subject(s): Life
First Line: Since you decreed / that each hour of my life
Last Line: Let death, when due, come swift!
Subject(s): Life
SINCE you decreed
That each hour of my life,
Within the thread
You weave, be vowed to strife
'Gainst odds insuperable—odds so set
Me at my birth—be generous, and let
Those odds endure. In savage mercy, send
Me strife unto the end.
Let each fresh day
Bring toil and task to me,
See me essay
Yet one more difficulty,
Obey my daimon, trust my inmost heart,
Serve, slave, develop, offer all to Art ...
Grant that, life-long, in utter faithfulness,
I seek the same success.
And this? What more
Than to have given my best?
The sole in store
For man. As for the rest,
One boon I beg: that I, who in storm and stress
Have lived, should not outlast my usefulness ...
Spare me decline. As guerdon and as gift,
Let Death, when due, come swift!
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