Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EMMA LAZARUS, by RICHARD WATSON GILDER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EMMA LAZARUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When on thy bed of pain thou layest low
Last Line: That with jehovah parleyed, face to face.
Subject(s): Jews; Lazarus, Emma (1849-1887); Judaism


WHEN on thy bed of pain thou layest low
Daily we saw thy body fade away,
Nor could the love wherewith we loved thee stay
For one dear hour the flesh borne down by woe;
But as the mortal sank, with what white glow
Flamed the eternal spirit, night and day;
Untouched, unwasted, though the crumbling clay
Lay wrecked and ruined! Ah, is it not so,
Dear poet-comrade, who from sight hast gone;
Is it not so the spirit hath a life
Death may not conquer? But, O dauntless one!
Still must we sorrow. Heavy is the strife
And thou not with us; thou of the old race
That with Jehovah parleyed, face to face.





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