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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET: 1, 17 by FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN

First Line: ALL MEN, THE PREACHER SAITH, WHATE'ER OR WHENCE
Last Line: FOR BEARING, A NIAGARA OF SOUND!

All men, the preacher saith, whate'er or whence
Their increase walking through this world has been,
Both those that gather out, or after glean,
Or hold in simple fee of harvests dense,
Though but perhaps a flowerless barren green,
Barren with spots of sorrel, knot grass, spurge:
Yet to one end their differing paths converge
And all must render answer, here or hence.
Lo! Death is at the doors, he crieth, with blows,
But what to him unto whose feverish sense
The stars tick audibly, and the wind's low surge
In the pine, attended, tolls and throngs and grows
On the dread ear, a thunder too profound
For bearing, a Niagara of sound!



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