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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CONSUMMATION, by JAMES TERRY WHITE Poet's Biography
First Line: Not poppies - plant not poppies on my grave
Last Line: That hints the scent of roses—as they pass.
Subject(s): Flowers; Graves; Roses; Tombs; Tombstones
First Line: Not poppies - plant not poppies on my grave
Last Line: That hints the scent of roses—as they pass.
Subject(s): Flowers; Graves; Roses; Tombs; Tombstones
Not poppies—plant not poppies on my grave!
I want no anodyne to make me sleep;
I want that All-Bestowing Power, who gave
Immortal love to life, and which we crave—
The promise of a larger life, to keep.
What that may be I know not—no one knows;
But since love's graces I have striven to gain,
Plant o'er my soon-forgotten dust, a rose—
That flower which in love's garden ever blows—
That thus a fragrant memory may remain.
For my fond hope has been, that I might leave
A Flowering—even in the wayside grass—A Touch of Bloom, life's
grayness to relieve—
A Beauty, they who follow may perceive,
That hints the scent of roses—as they pass.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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THE SURVIVOR AMONG GRAVES by RANDALL JARRELL
SUBJECTED EARTH by ROBINSON JEFFERS
THE GRAVE OF MRS. HEMANS by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER
THOSE GRAVES IN ROME by LARRY LEVIS
NOT TO BE DWELLED ON by HEATHER MCHUGH
ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON
ETRUSCAN TOMB by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS
ENDING WITH A LINE FROM LEAR by MARVIN BELL
IF HEARTS ARE DUST by JAMES TERRY WHITE