Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, VOICES (FOR JAMES LANE ALLEN), by VIRGINIA STAIT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VOICES (FOR JAMES LANE ALLEN), by                    
First Line: I am not dead, I think
Last Line: Or flesh to dust made fast!
Subject(s): Allen, James Lane (1849-1925); Music & Musicians; Voices


"I should like the memory of my life to give out the sound of a flute." --
The Choir Invisible.

I am not dead, I think,
But all unlessoned where the dead should know,
For every pipe that plays is still the link
For thought to come and go!

The lyre strings are dear,
And bring me to a halting place of dreams,
That every convoy takes down every year,
And every ghost redeems.

And all the organ tones
Of ancientry still pass my narrow door,
And I march with the chords one longer owns
When longer heard before!

And harp by harp I keep,
With falas that the day and night have sung,
Unto immitigable things of sleep,
Unto vales restrung.

But oh, the flute to me
Brings the abiding-places of the past
As close -- as close -- as shipwreck to the sea,
Or flesh to dust made fast!





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