Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE CRY OF RACHEL by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE

Poet Analysis

First Line: I STAND IN THE DARK; I BEAT ON THE FLOOR
Last Line: LET ME IN, DEATH.
Subject(s): DEATH; JEWS; RACHEL (BIBLE); WOMEN IN THE BIBLE; DEAD, THE; JUDAISM;

I STAND in the dark; I beat on the floor,
Let me in, Death.
Through the storm am I come; I find you before:
Let me in, Death.
For him that is sweet, and for him that is shall,
I beat on the door, I cry, and I call:
Let me in, Death.

For he was my bow of the almond-tree fair:
Let me in, Death.
You brake it; it whitens no more by the stair:
Let me in, Death.
For he was my lamp in the House of the Lord;
You quenched, and left me this dark and the sword:
Let me in, Death.

I that was rich do ask you for alms:
Let me in, Death.
I that was full, uplift your stripped palms:
Let me in, Death.
Back to me now give the child that I had;
Cast into mine arms my little sweet lad:
Let me in, Death.

Are you grown so deaf that you cannot hear?
Let me in, Death.
Unclose the dim eye, and unstop the ear:
Let me in, Death.
I will call so loud, I will cry so sore,
You must for shame's sake come open the door:
Let me in, Death.



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