Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AFTER-SIGHT, by WILLIAM ROSE BENET


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AFTER-SIGHT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The room is vibrant with you -- but they say
Last Line: This is the soul I loved, and never knew!
Subject(s): Death; Love - Loss Of; Dead, The


The room is vibrant with you -- but they say
That you have left our day,
That even now your frail, thin hands can hold
All power, as in a bowl of heavenly gold,
All wisdom and all beauty in the same,
And quaff your fill in the eternal name
Of death. Yet, have you left us? You are here
In this small room, most dear!

I do not have to question book or chair,
Table or picture. Here you are, and there, --
The undeniable presence! or 'twould seem
I tread a chamber in the house of dream.
Where is your voice, your touch? And yet they are
Both here -- not far!

A city's day runs by us in the street
Below. The half-barred shutters filter sweet
And shaken sunlight on the flowers you love.
I may not move
Beneath this silence -- while many a clanging bell,
Street cries, harsh traffic's roar, to blatant babel swell.

Oh, grace
Unguessed! Oh, now unveiled and lovelier face!
This empty room is how aware of you!
Though they may call you lost -- though She has passed --
At last -- at last
This is the soul I loved, and never knew!





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