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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN THE SHADOWS: 2 by DAVID GRAY (1838-1861)

First Line: WHOM THE GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG.' THE THOUGHT IS OLD
Last Line: HYMN, O YE MOURNERS! HAIL IMMORTAL YOUTH AURORAL!
Subject(s): DEATH; YOUTH; DEAD, THE;

"Whom the gods love die young." The thought is old;
And yet it soothed the sweet Athenian mind.
I take it with all pleasure, overbold,
Perhaps, yet to its virtue much inclined
By an inherent love for what is fair.
This is the utter poetry of woe --
That the bright-flashing gods should cure despair
By love, and make youth precious here below.
I die, being young; and, dying, could become
A pagan, with the tender Grecian trust.
Let death, the fell anatomy, benumb
The hand that writes, and fill my mouth with dust, --
Chant no funeral theme, but, with a choral
Hymn, O ye mourners! hail immortal youth auroral!



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