Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON MY DOG'S DEATH, by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE First Line: My friend has gone Last Line: I am learning to listen. Subject(s): Animals; Death; Dogs; Faith; Friendship; Grief; Love; Dead, The; Belief; Creed; Sorrow; Sadness | ||||||||
MY FRIEND has gone Through the door of darkness; Wearily waiting, He fainted and fell Upon its threshold, And ghostly fingers Out of the silence Laid hold upon him And drew him through. He did not know The subtle secrets Of Death the wary; Deeply he loved me, My little comrade, His eyes were shining With lights of worship, Of modest wonder, When I caressed him. Even at the last, Before the darkness, He never doubted: He thought his lord Was tired or troubled, But would surely save him. Thy lord? Ah, comrade, Futile thy faith! And futile my will To heal and keep thee! We dwelt together As midges merely, Afloat in the fathomless Dust of the ages. Drifted we near Unto each other, Enjoying the sunlight Playing upon us; And then, on a sudden, Came the chill glooming, The separation, And yet ... I feel ... There are strange things about love: Love is so loving, So patient, enduring, Through the doom of defeat And utter sorrow! There are strange things about love ... I feel their strangeness. Love may be somehow More great than the midges, Greater than ages, Than loss and heartbreak And death and distance, Greater perhaps Than It that orders The swing of the planets, Than all things else That are or shall be. The love I bear thee, My little dead comrade, Forever is trying To tell me something. I am learning to listen. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONOMA FIRE by JANE HIRSHFIELD AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS A CHILD'S EVENING HYMN by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE |
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