How beautiful to live as thou didst live! How beautiful to die as thou didst die, -- In moonlight of the night, without a sigh, At rest in all the best that love could give! How excellent to bear into old age The poet's ardor and the heart of youth, -- To keep to the last sleep the vow of truth, And leave to lands that grieve a glowing page! How glorious to feel the spirit's power Unbroken by the near approach of death, To breathe blest prophecies with failing breath, Soul-bound to beauty in that latest hour! How sweet to greet, in final kinship owned, The master-spirit to thy dreams so dear, -- At last from his immortal lips to hear The dirge for Imogen, and thee, intoned! How beautiful to live as thou didst live! How beautiful to die as thou didst die, -- In moonlight of the night, without a sigh, At rest in all the best that love could give! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GOD'S GRANDEUR by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS MUIOPOTMOS, OR THE FATE OF THE BUTTERFLIE by EDMUND SPENSER A SOCIETY MARTYR by JOHN CLINTON ANTHONY THE LAY OF THE LOVER'S FRIEND by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN RIDDLE by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE GOLDEN ODES OF PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA: IMR EL KAIS by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT THE LOVE SONNETS OF PROTEUS: 25, ASKING FOR HER HEART (3) by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |