Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SATIETY by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS

Poet Analysis

First Line: I HAVE OUTLIVED MY LIFE, AND LINGER ON
Last Line: A CLOD, PERHAPS AT REST, WITHIN A CLOD.
Subject(s): WEARINESS; FATIGUE;

I have outlived my life, and linger on,
Knowing myself the ghost of one that was.
Come, kindly death, and let my flesh, being grass,
Nourish some beast's sad life when I am gone.
What joy is left in all I look upon?
I cannot sin, it wearies me. Alas!
I loathe the laggard moments as they pass;
I tire of all but swift oblivion.

Yet, if all power to taste the dear deceit
Be not outworn and perished utterly,
If it could be, then surely it were sweet:
I go down on my knees and pray: O God,
Send me some last illusion, ere I be
A clod, perhaps at rest, within a clod.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net