Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LAZARUS, by STEPHEN PHILLIPS


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LAZARUS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The light which I have followed all this
Last Line: "art here content to be, then why not I?"
Subject(s): Lazarus


"THE light which I have followed all this way
Out of the darkness grows into a face;
Thy face, dear friend, whom I so long have known.
Have we not wandered with twined arms, and walked
Through evening fields together? And those lips,
That I have kissed so oft, did they pronounce
That dreadful whisper, 'Lazarus arise'?
For as it came in darkness I was 'ware
Of countenances terrible, that gazed
Each on the other in drear impotence,
As I with sighs arose eluding them.
O face that seemest made to weep and smile
With us, and hands all rough with common tasks!
Is this indeed Thy sun to which thou hast
Recalled me, are these Thy fields, which grow
Slowly from grey to green before my eyes?
I felt Thee irresistible in the grave.
Forgive me that I talked so lightly, and went
So unconcerned beside thee in old days.
How is it thou canst care to come and go
With such as me, and walk and work with us,
Thou at whose whisper Death idled and grieved,
And knew the voice at which creation shone
Suddenly? Yet was I so near to peace;
And I came back to life remorsefully,
When the sea murmured again, and fields appeared.
But how should I complain? Unto what end
I am recalled I know not; but if thou
Art here content to be, then why not I?"





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