Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SURE, THERE'S A TIE OF BODIES! AND AS THEY, by HENRY VAUGHAN



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SURE, THERE'S A TIE OF BODIES! AND AS THEY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
Last Line: Be sure not to believe
Alternate Author Name(s): Silurist
Subject(s): Death


SURE, there's a tie of bodies! and as they
Dissolve, with it, to clay,
Love languisheth, and memory doth rust
O'ercast with that cold dust;
For things thus centred, without beams or action.
Nor give nor take contaction;
And man is such a marigold, these fled,
That shuts, and hangs the head.

2.

Absents within the line conspire, and sense
Things distant doth unite;
Herbs sleep unto the East, and some fowls thence
Watch the returns of light.
But hearts are not so kind: false, short delights
Tell us the world is brave,
And wrap us in imaginary flights
Wide of a faithful grave.
Thus Lazarus was carried out of town;
For 'tis our foes' chief art
By distance all good objects first to drown.
And then besiege the heart.
But I will be my own death's-head ; and though
The flatt'rer say, "I live,"
Because incertainties we cannot know,
Be sure not to believe.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net