SAY, fair maids, maying In gardens green, In deep dells straying, What end hath been Two Mays between Of the flowers that shone And your own sweet queen? -- "They are dead and gone!" Say, grave priests, praying In dule and teen, From cells decaying What have ye seen Of the proud and mean, Of Judas and John, Of the foul and clean? -- "They are dead and gone!" Say, kings, arraying Loud wars to win, Of your manslaying What gain ye glean? "They are fierce and keen, But they fall anon, On the sword that lean, -- They are dead and gone!" ENVOY Through the mad world's scene We are drifting on, To this tune, I ween, "They are dead and gone!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EACH AND [OR, IN] ALL by RALPH WALDO EMERSON INTELLECT by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE HIGH TIDE AT [OR, ON THE COAST OF] LINCOLNSHIRE by JEAN INGELOW TO A SQUIRREL AT KYLE-NA-NO by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 56. AL-WALI by EDWIN ARNOLD TWELVE SONNETS: 8 by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |