I HOLD a shadow's cold, soft hand, I look in eyes you cannot see, And words you cannot understand Come back, as from a distant land, -- The far-off land of Memory. Forgive me that I sit apart And hold the shadow's hand in mine, The past broods darkly in my heart, And bitter are the tears that start; I would not mix them with the wine. The hour will pass: the shade will go To his dark home, and swift forget, At rest the daisied turf below, The sun-warmed hours we used to know, And the old paths wherein we met. I am alive! Why should the dead With cold hand hold the quick in thrall? To his far place the shade has sped, Now Life with Life may gayly wed! . . . My heart misgives me, after all. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DEATH OF A PHOTOGRAPHER by KAREN SWENSON THE LAST REDOUBT by ALFRED AUSTIN LINCOLN by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY THE BATTLE OF NASEBY by THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY A SATIRICAL ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A LATE FAMOUS GENERAL by JONATHAN SWIFT MAY'S LOVE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING IMPROMPTU ON AN INNKEEPER NAMED BACON by ROBERT BURNS EPIGRAM ON THE FEUDS BETWEEN HANDEL AND BONONCINI by JOHN BYROM |