|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LAMENT FOR OLD MEN, by VERNE BRIGHT
First Line: They have such narrow passage between the years
Last Line: The strong limbs withered, the gaunt flesh crucified.
Subject(s): Lament; Old Age
First Line: They have such narrow passage between the years
Last Line: The strong limbs withered, the gaunt flesh crucified.
Subject(s): Lament; Old Age
They have such narrow passage between the years;
The light they carry is a glow-worm's fire
Baleful in the dusk above a mire;
Their days are perilous; the night wind jeers
Over their lonely sleep; the meagre tears
Seep through dream-clenched eyelids; their hard bones
Bend under their burdened hearts heavy as stones;
Love is a lost sad music in their ears.
Nothing is old but men who were born too soon,
Brothers of broken hope inured to pain
(The blossomy girls of spring have paled and died),
Dazed in the wintry night bereft of the moon,
Under the eaves of the dark and savage rain,
The strong limbs withered, the gaunt flesh crucified.
Discover our poem explanations - click here!
Other Poems of Interest...
AN OLD-FASHIONED SONG by JOHN HOLLANDER
AT EIGHTY I CHANGE MY VIEW by DAVID IGNATOW
FAWN'S FOSTER-MOTHER by ROBINSON JEFFERS
THE DEER LAY DOWN THEIR BONES by ROBINSON JEFFERS
OLD BLACK MEN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON
A WINTER ODE TO THE OLD MEN OF LUMMUS PARK, / MIAMI, FLORIDA by DONALD JUSTICE
AFTER A LINE BY JOHN PEALE BISHOP by DONALD JUSTICE
TO HER BODY, AGAINST TIME by ROBERT KELLY
SONG FROM A COUNTRY FAIR by LEONIE ADAMS