Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, VIA DOLOROSA: 4. LIBITINA VERTICORDIA, by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VIA DOLOROSA: 4. LIBITINA VERTICORDIA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sister of sleep, healer of life, divine
Last Line: That if they wake their life is sweet as sleep.
Subject(s): Death; Life; Sleep; Dead, The


SISTER of sleep, healer of life, divine
As rest and strong as very love may be,
To set the soul that love could set not free,
To bid the skies that day could bid not shine,
To give the gift that life withheld was thine.
With all my heart I loved one borne from me:
And all my heart bows down and praises thee,
Death, that hast now made grief not his but mine.

O Changer of men's hearts, we would not bid thee
Turn back our hearts from sorrow: this alone
We bid, we pray thee, from thy sovereign throne
And sanctuary sublime where heaven has hid thee,
Give: grace to know of those for whom we weep
That if they wake their life is sweet as sleep.





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