|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONNET OF LIFE, by ERNEST BENSHIMOL
First Line: I held a torch at the door of death and found
Last Line: Of time, these things alone are yours to understand.
Subject(s): Life
First Line: I held a torch at the door of death and found
Last Line: Of time, these things alone are yours to understand.
Subject(s): Life
I held a torch at the door of death and found
That all things lived. I turned again and stood
In the darkest hell of life and found it good.
Then where they congregate who most expound
The laws of things I came. And they are fools,
Seeking eternity in a temporal dream
While in their breasts the crimson current cools
And life goes floating past them down the stream.
Under the moon the pink peach blossoms glow,
The Ebon branches trace themselves across
A silver screen of meadow grass and moss
And here all things are beautiful that grow.
Oh breath of dust that quivers in the hand
Of time, these things alone are yours to understand.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
PRIVILEGE OF BEING by ROBERT HASS
SEAWATER STIFFENS CLOTH by JANE HIRSHFIELD
SAYING YES TO LIVING by DAVID IGNATOW
THE WORLD IS SO DIFFICULT TO GIVE UP by DAVID IGNATOW