Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GOOD AND EVIL, by ALICE CARY



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GOOD AND EVIL, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Once when the messenger that stays
Last Line: Uncertain shadows here.
Subject(s): Evil; Good


ONCE when the messenger that stays
For all, beside me stood,
I mused on what great Shakespeare says
Of evil and of good.

And shall the evil I have done
Live after me? I said;
When lo! a splendor like the sun
Shone round about my bed.

And a sweet spirit of the skies
Near me, yet all apart,
In whispers like the low wind's sighs,
Spake to my listening heart;

Saying, your poet, reverenced thus,
For once hath been unwise;
The good we do lives after us,
The evil 't is that dies!

Evil is earthy, of the earth, --
A thing of pain and crime,
That scarcely sends a shadow forth
Beyond the bounds of time.

But good, in substance, dwells above
This discontented sphere,
Extending only, through God's love,
Uncertain shadows here.





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