Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HOUR OF GOLD, by MURRAY C. KIRK


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HOUR OF GOLD, by                    
First Line: O, not when purple curtains of the sky
Last Line: Shall glow one hour of gold to light the closing way.
Subject(s): Death; Gold; Life; Sky; Dead, The


O, not when purple curtains of the sky
Are tinged with gold, and ships at sea draw nigh;

Nor where faint stars on farther pathways gleam,
For lure of fame is but a futile dream;

And not when young, sweet winds and tender hue
Of greening bud and leaf, would speak of you;

But when the muted song I may not tell
In notes caught from the harp of Israfel
Sounds through the dusk of spaces, and the far,
Faint symphony of rifted cloud and star,
Of silver wave and tiny wind-flower bell
Blend like the drip of rain, into that Word
Lips may not speak, but mind and heart have heard—

And I shall know that Life's last mystery of death
Is one blown rose, distilled in living breath;

That rainbow haze on Lethe's silent stream
Is mended glory of a broken dream;

O, then, through years of ancient pain and gray
Shall glow one hour of gold to light the closing way.





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