Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ETERNITY by JOHN COWPER POWYS

First Line: ETERNITY IS A WIND-BLOWN HUSK
Last Line: AND GIVE ME HER LITTLE HAND!
Subject(s): BEAUTY; FOOLS; FUTURE LIFE; LIFE; LOVE; SLEEP; IDIOTS; RETRIBUTION; ETERNITY; AFTER LIFE;

Eternity is a wind-blown husk
And fools run after it;
And when a sand-storm brings the dusk,
They call it the infinite.

On the surface -- the surface -- is Beauty found,
And the surface of life goes deep;
For where it is lost in the underground,
We sleep -- we sleep -- we sleep.

There is nothing else but the surface of life,
Nor ever was nor will be!
-- Except the sleep that endeth life;
And may that fall gently on me!

Fall gently on me, and ere it fall,
Let me once more pretend
That the one I love the most of all
Is with me at the end.

Let the wind-blown husk, eternity,
Dance over infinite sand,
So the one I love come once to me,
And give me her little hand!



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