ONCE when the messenger that stays For all, beside me stood, I mused on what great Shakespeare says Of evil and of good. And shall the evil I have done Live after me? I said; When lo! a splendor like the sun Shone round about my bed. And a sweet spirit of the skies Near me, yet all apart, In whispers like the low wind's sighs, Spake to my listening heart; Saying, your poet, reverenced thus, For once hath been unwise; The good we do lives after us, The evil 't is that dies! Evil is earthy, of the earth, -- A thing of pain and crime, That scarcely sends a shadow forth Beyond the bounds of time. But good, in substance, dwells above This discontented sphere, Extending only, through God's love, Uncertain shadows here. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A FRIEND I CAN'T FIND by JAMES GALVIN O SOUTHLAND! by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON OCTAVES: 7 by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE ARCHITECT AT THE EDGE OF THE SEA by KAREN SWENSON THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE CRICKET by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 18. A PORTRAIT by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |