Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THEY WHO COME BACK, by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THEY WHO COME BACK, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My faithful dead come back to me in dreams
Last Line: My changeless dead, who rest so long and well.
Subject(s): Death; Faith; Hearts; Love; Vision; Dead, The; Belief; Creed


MY faithful dead come back to me in dreams,
Just as they were before they went away:
Gait, gesture, look, they are the same, it seems,
As when they fellowed with me, day by day.

I marvel at their semblance, hold my breath
Lest, if I breathe, the vision should depart;
Almost they give me faith there is no death,
But only love that leaps from heart to heart.

But, oh, I would not hold them as they come
Briefly beside my bed and bless my sight,
Speaking of little things, recalling some
Forgotten moment touched with old delight!

A hand-clasp, yes, sweet words, even a kiss ...
No more, they must not stay; as light steals through
My room, I gladly let them go, and this
Is all I ever ask of them to do.

They must go back again. I hold too dear
Their memory to break the tender spell;
I could not bear to see them suffer here,
My changeless dead, who rest so long and well.





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