Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ACTOR-SOLDIER, by GLADYS CROMWELL



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ACTOR-SOLDIER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On the grass I'm lying
Last Line: "o masquerader, come!"
Subject(s): Absence; Death; Separation; Isolation; Dead, The


ON the grass I'm lying,
My blanket is the sky;
This feeling is called dying.

No one will testify
They saw me suffer this; --
There's no one passing by.

The wonder of it is,
I'm by myself at last
With plain realities.

No one is here to cast
A part for me to play;
My term of life is past.

No one is here to see
How I can meet and take
This end; -- how gallantly --

Though the ice that binds a lake
Must weigh less heavily
Than Death to my soul awake.

I must have thirsted, indeed,
For pity, then love, then praise;
For to win them, in every deed,
I endeavoured all my days.

The Soldier and the Son
Were my seductive parts;
But I could act the clown, --
Draw laughter from dumb hearts.

The Soldier part was my best, --
'Twas my last and my favourite.
Every gift that I possessed
I displayed for their benefit.
Who are They? On my breast
Weighs the infinite.

Ah, yes, I appeared heroic,
Unflinching, true and brave;
I wore the look of a stoic; --
All hurts I forgave.

But now on the grass I turn
To ease a little the pain;
It is not too late to learn.

Last night I lay in the rain
Until my body was numb,
Hearing like a refrain:

"O Masquerader, come!" --
And even like a drum
It beat into my brain:
"O Masquerader, come!"





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