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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


REFRIGERIUM by FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN

First Line: LET THEM LIE, - THEIR DAY IS OVER
Last Line: IN A SLUMBER SWEET AND COLD.
Subject(s): DEATH; GRIEF;

Let them lie,--their day is over;
Nought but night and stillness be:
Let the slow rain come and bring
Brake and stargrass, speedwell, harebell,
All the fulness of the spring;
What reck I of friend and lover?
Foe by foe laid lovingly?

What are mounds of green earth, either?
What to me unfriendly bones
Death hath pacified and won
To a reconciled patience,
Though their very graves have run
In the blending earth together,
And the spider links the stones?

To the hills I wander, crying,
Where we stood in days of old,
Stood and saw the sunset die;
Watched through tears the passing purple,--
O my darling! misery
Has been mine; but thou wert lying
In a slumber sweet and cold.



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