|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HIS HEART WAS YOUNG; IN MEMORIAM, JAMES B. HAWKINS, by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER
First Line: He was not old, although the fruited years
Last Line: He lives, and still his spirit walks with me.
Subject(s): Death; Life; Truth; Wisdom; Dead, The
First Line: He was not old, although the fruited years
Last Line: He lives, and still his spirit walks with me.
Subject(s): Death; Life; Truth; Wisdom; Dead, The
He was not old, although the fruited years
Were measured by a four-score written guage,
His heart was young and laughed at whitened age
With all its frailties and its common fears.
Strong in his faith, a faith ingrained in youth,
His Christ had worn for him a joyful mien,
That often he in visioned prayer had seen,
I knew it, for his life reflected Truth.
Wise were his words, and yet was Wisdom's tongue
Tempered and ruled by a kind father's love
And soft his tone, as fluttered wing of dove
When teaching needed lessons to the young.
The children knew,—they sensed his finer soul,
They gathered 'round, his hands were ever held
In childish clasp, nor yet was one compelled
Save in that love that gave him sweet control.
His life was calm, though raging tempests stirred
And sorrow churned its placid seas to foam,
He crossed the bar and brought his frail craft home
Through course once set by God's Eternal Word.
He is not dead! No, that could never be,
For Death is Life, and life not far away
But pulsed with ours, and through the endless day
He lives, and still his Spirit walks with me.
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 DROP OF INK by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER