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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
YOUTH'S IMMORTALITY, by GEORGE SANTAYANA Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What, when hearts have met, shall sever Last Line: Living in the things we love. Subject(s): Immortality | |||
What, when hearts have met, shall sever Heart from heart, though heaven fall? They alone are dead for ever Who have never lived at all. Roses that have bloomed to sweetness Never can untimely fade, Blessed by death in their completeness And on beauty's bosom laid, Garnered in the breast eternal Where all noble joys are one, Sweet Elysium, fair and vernal, Where they mount who face the sun. Happy he whom men call lonely, Whose companion is the truth, And whose heart is ravished only By the world's immortal youth. Happy he whose single treasure Is the infinite unfurled, And whose voice has caught the measure Of the music of the world. When Death gathers up our ashes And our sorry shades depart, Lo, Life's flame, rekindled, flashes From another mortal heart, And Death turns about, derided By the Life he would deride. Vainly space and time divided What eternity allied. One great hope guides all our seeing, One pure heaven lends us light. Love is still the crown of being, Faith the better part of sight. The same wisdom's ancient pages Stir again the generous soul To the mighty task of ages Crawling still to reason's goal. The prophetic Muse of Story Sings her ancient legend o'er, And the sea, still young and hoary, Chants along the beaten shore. Spring yet yields her flowery treasures To the guiltless hands of boys, Chastening their noisy pleasures To the depth of human joys. One eternal passion drives us, Zealots of the stars above, And our better part survives us, Living in the things we love. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WALLACE STEVENS' LETTERS by ROBERT BLY DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING by DAVID IGNATOW I CLOSE MY EYES by DAVID IGNATOW IN 'DESIGNING A CLOAK TO CLOAK HIS DESIGNS' YOU WRESTED FROM OBLIVION by MARIANNE MOORE THE THINGS THAT DIE by GREGORY ORR THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |
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