Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MIMNERMUS IN CHURCH, by WILLIAM JOHNSON CORY Poet's Biography First Line: You promise heavens free from strife Last Line: I clasp them, is because they die. Subject(s): Love; Mortality | ||||||||
You promise heavens free from strife, Pure truth, and perfect change of will; But sweet, sweet is this human life, So sweet, I fain would breathe it still; Your chilly stars I can forgo, This warm kind world is all I know. You say there is no substance here, One great reality above: Back from that void I shrink in fear, And child-like hide myself in love: Show me what angels feel. Till then I cling, a mere weak man, to men. You bid me lift my mean desires From faltering lips and fitful veins To sexless souls, ideal quires, Unwearied voices, wordless strains: My mind with fonder welcome owns One dear dead friend's remember'd tones. Forsooth the present we must give To that which cannot pass away; All beauteous things for which we live By laws of time and space decay. But O, the very reason why I clasp them, is because they die. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WISE MEN IN THEIR BAD HOURS by ROBINSON JEFFERS READING ALOUD TO MY FATHER by JANE KENYON A BALLAD FOR A BOY by WILLIAM JOHNSON CORY A POOR FRENCH SAILOR'S SCOTTISH SWEETHEART by WILLIAM JOHNSON CORY |
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