I LAST night returning from my twilight walk I met the grey mist Death, whose eyeless brow Was bent on me, and from his hand of chalk He reached me flowers as from a withered bough: O Death, what bitter nosegays givest thou! II Death said, I gather, and pursued his way. Another stood by me, a shape in stone, Sword-hacked and iron-stained, with breasts of clay, And metal veins that sometimes fiery shone: O Life, how naked and how hard when known! III Life said, As thou hast carved me, such am I. Then memory, like the nightjar on the pine, And sightless hope, a woodlark in night sky, Joined notes of Death and Life till night's decline: Of Death, of Life, those inwound notes are mine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 40 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN AN OLD SWEETHEART [OF MINE] by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY PATER FILIO by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES I MUST COME BACK by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. LAVENDER by ARCHIE AUSTIN COATES MOAN ON THE PRARIE by MARY F. COCHRANE LINES COMPOSED FOR A MEMORIAL OF ASHLEY COWPER, ESQ by WILLIAM COWPER TO THE REV. MR. NEWTON [RECTOR OF ST. MARY, WOOLNOTH] by WILLIAM COWPER |