Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MATER DOLOROSA, by WILLIAM SHARP


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MATER DOLOROSA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She, brooding ever, dwells amidst the hills
Last Line: Peace hath she not and therefore cannot give.
Alternate Author Name(s): Macleod, Fiona
Subject(s): Pain; Peace; Silence; Tears; Suffering; Misery


She, brooding ever, dwells amidst the hills;
Her kingdom is call'd Solitude; her name --
More terrible than desolating flame --
Is Silence; and her soul is Pain.
Day after day some weightier sorrow fills
Her heart, and each new hour she knows
The birth of further woes.
And whoso, journeying, goes
Unto the land wherein she dwells for aye
Shall not come thence until have passed away
For evermore the bright joy of his years.
She giveth rest, but giveth it with tears,
Tears that more bitter be
Than drops of the Dead Sea:
But never gives she peace to any soul
For how could she that rarest gift bestow
Who well doth know
That though in dreams she can attain the goal,
In dreams alone her steps can thither go: --
Solitude, Silence, Pain, for all who live
Within the twilit realms that are her own,
And even Rest to those who seek her throne,
But these her gifts alone:
Peace hath she not and therefore cannot give.





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