Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PLAINT, by JOHN HALL WHEELOCK Poet's Biography First Line: Brief is man's travail here and transitory Last Line: Earth has one burden more, one soul the less. Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence | ||||||||
Brief is Man's travail here and transitory His wrath that soon is spent, Brief his lament, Lifted in vain against the harsh decrees Of the high Destinies That move not to the measure of his woe: Even as snow On sunny meadows, as a lover's story Told in an April twilight long ago, Brief is he even as these -- His little hour of tumult, or of glory -- And to what end devised we may not guess, Considering, as we go Toward the same shadows, bearing the same spark, His vanity and empty nothingness. Yet in the mighty Dark Dear is the spirit; grievously we know Earth has one burden more, one soul the less. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FROM THE SPANISH by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 17 by JAMES JOYCE SOUTHERN GOTHIC by DONALD JUSTICE THE BEACH IN AUGUST by WELDON KEES THE MAN SPLITTING WOOD IN THE DAYBREAK by GALWAY KINNELL THE SEEKONK WOODS by GALWAY KINNELL THE BLACK PANTHER by JOHN HALL WHEELOCK |
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