Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TOMB, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: This is the parting place; this narrow house Last Line: A pilgrim at heaven's gate. Subject(s): Heaven; Paradise | ||||||||
"So parted they; the angel up to Heaven, And Adam to his bower." MILTON. THIS is the parting place; this narrow house, With its turf roof and marble door, where none Have entered and returned. If earth's poor gold E'er clave unto thee, here unlade thyself; For thou didst bring none with thee to this world Nor may'st thou bear it hence. Honors hast thou, Ambition's shadowy gatherings? Shred them loose To the four winds, their natural element. Yea, more, thou must unclasp the living ties Of strong affection. Hast thou nurtured babes? And was each wailing from their feeble lip A thorn to pierce thee? every infant smile, And budding hope, a spring of ecstacy? Turn, turn away, for thou henceforth to them A parent art no more? Wert thou a wife? And was the arm on which thy spirit leaned Faithful in all thy need? Yet must thou leave This fond protection, and pursue alone Thy shuddering pathway down the vale of death. Friendship's free intercourse -- the promised joys Of soul-implanted, soul-confiding love, The cherished sympathies which every year Struck some new root within thy yielding breast, Stand loose from all, thou lonely voyager Unto the land of spirits. Yea, even more! Lay down thy body! Hast thou worshipped it With vanity's sweet incense, and wild waste Of precious time? Did beauty bring it gifts, The lily brow, the full resplendent eye, The tress, the bloom, the grace, whose magic power Woke man's idolatry? Oh lay it down, Earth's reptile banqueters have need of it. Still may'st thou bear, o'er Jordan's stormy wave, One blessed trophy; if thy life hath striven By penitence and faith such boon to gain, The victor palm of Christ's atoning love: -- And this shall win thee entrance when thou stand'st A pilgrim at Heaven's gate. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE END OF LIFE by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY SEVEN TWILIGHTS: 6 by CONRAD AIKEN THE BOOK OF THE DEAD MAN (#19): 2. MORE ABOUT THE DEAD MAN AND WINTER by MARVIN BELL THE WORLDS IN THIS WORLD by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR A SKELETON FOR MR. PAUL IN PARADISE; AFTER ALLAN GUISINGER by NORMAN DUBIE BEAUTY & RESTRAINT by DANIEL HALPERN HOW IT WILL HAPPEN, WHEN by DORIANNE LAUX IF THIS IS PARADISE by DORIANNE LAUX COLUMBUS [JANUARY, 1487] by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY |
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