Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN THE EVENING; IN MEMORIAM FREDERICI TREEVES, 1853-1923, by THOMAS HARDY



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IN THE EVENING; IN MEMORIAM FREDERICI TREEVES, 1853-1923, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: In the evening, when the world knew he was dead
Last Line: "enough. You have returned. And all is well."


IN the evening, when the world knew he was dead,
He lay amid the dust and hoar
Of ages; and to a spirit attending said:
"This chalky bed? --
I surely seem to have been here before?"

"O yes. You have been here. You knew the place,
Substanced as you, long ere your call:
And if you cared to do so you might trace
In this gray space
Your being, and the being of men all."

Thereto said he: "Then why was I called away?
I knew no trouble or discontent:
Why did I not prolong my ancient stay
Herein for aye?"
The spirit shook its head. "None knows: you went.

"And though, perhaps, Time did not sign to you
The need to go, dream-vision sees
How Aesculapius' phantom hither flew,
With Galen's, too,
And his of Cos -- plague-proof Hippocrates,

"And beckoned you forth, whose skill had read as theirs
Maybe, had Science chanced to spell
In their day, modern modes to stem despairs
That mankind bears!. . .
Enough. You have returned. And all is well."





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