Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MIDNIGHT, by GEORGE SANTAYANA Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The dank earth reeks with three days' rain Last Line: O love's unutterable stings! Subject(s): Youth; Longing; Grief | ||||||||
The dank earth reeks with three days' rain, The phantom trees are dark and still, Above the darkness and the hill The tardy moon shines out again. O heavy lethargy of pain! O shadows of forgotten ill! My parrot lips, when I was young, To prove and to disprove were bold. The mighty world has tied my tongue, And in dull custom growing old I leave the burning truth untold And the heart's anguish all unsung. Youth dies in man's benumbed soul, Maid bows to woman's broken life, A thousand leagues of silence roll Between the husband and the wife. The spirit faints with inward strife And lonely gazing at the pole. But how should reptiles pine for wings Or a parched desert know its dearth? Immortal is the soul that sings The sorrow of her mortal birth. O cruel beauty of the earth! O love's unutterable stings! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONOMA FIRE by JANE HIRSHFIELD AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE I HAVE FOLDED MY SORROWS by BOB KAUFMAN |
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