WITHIN the church on All Souls' Day I knelt with those uncomforted, Who bowed their weary heads to pray Their sad prayers for the happy dead. We, with the sting of tears still hot Upon our faces, prayed for those Who have forgot all tears, forgot The long passed pageant of old woes. We of the anxious soul and brain, Prayed peace for those who ever dwell In that great calm that follows pain, Safe-housed in God's white citadel. O, futile, tender mockery! We, hampered, fettered in the strife, To pray for those glad souls made free Of the great burden that is life. Dear God, another prayer I said; Humbly I asked who might not give: @3Pray ye for us, thrice happy dead, For us who live -- for us who live!@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...UPON A DYING LADY by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS TO MY INCONSTANT MISTRESS by THOMAS CAREW LOUIS XV by JOHN STERLING (1806-1844) IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 124 by ALFRED TENNYSON THE GALLOWS by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD: TRANSLATION by CAIUS PEDO ALBINOVANUS |