Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DEAD, by RACHEL ANNAND TAYLOR Poet's Biography First Line: If I hearken at your grave Last Line: By that road. Subject(s): Brides; Death; Hearts; Love; Dead, The | ||||||||
I. IF I hearken at your grave Will you speak? Will the sudden crimson wave Tint your cheek? Will your pulse begin to beat, And your lip to quiver, sweet, With the dreamy silver phrase Of our dreamy lover-days, If I speak? II. For your passion would embalm (So you said) Lids and fingers carven calm, Pale and dead. Like a sacred orange-flower, Pluckt one meditative hour, You would wait, a pensive bride, Till they brought me to your side, So you said. III. But I dare not hearken so, Queen of Rest! Where the holy lilies grow From your breast; For the silences immure All your reveries death-pure, While I sicken with the sin Of the world I wander in, Soul at rest! IV. So I labour to forget How the road Wins through petals blue and wet Your abode; How an agony supreme Yet shall break your bridal dream, When they bear my body stained To your beauty unprofaned, By that road. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN TO HER LOVER by RACHEL ANNAND TAYLOR |
|