Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO A DEAD POET by AMY LEVY

First Line: I KNEW NOT IF TO LAUGH OR WEEP
Last Line: PERHAPS I KNEW YOU BEST.
Subject(s): POETRY & POETS;

I KNEW not if to laugh or weep ;
They sat and talked of you --
"'Twas here he sat; 'twas this he said !
'Twas that he used to do.

"Here is the book wherein he read,
The room wherein he dwelt ;
And he" (they said) "was such a man,
Such things he thought and felt."

I sat and sat, I did not stir ;
They talked and talked away.
I was as mute as any stone,
I had no word to say.

They talked and talked ; like to a stone
My heart grew in my breast --
I, who had never seen your face
Perhaps I knew you best.




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