Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DESIDERIUM, by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE Poet's Biography First Line: Face in the tomb, that lies so still Last Line: Gazing forever in immortal eyes. Subject(s): Death; Love - Loss Of; Dead, The | ||||||||
Face in the tomb, that lies so still, May I draw near, And watch you sleep and love you, Without word or tear? You smile, your eyelids flicker; Shall I tell How the world goes that lost you? Shall I tell? Ah, love, lift not your eyelids; 'Tis the same Old story that we laughed at, Still the same. We knew it, you and I, We knew it all: Still is the small the great, The great the small; Still the cold lie quenches The flaming truth, And still embattled age Wars against youth. Yet I believe still in the ever-living God That fills your grave with perfume, Writing your name in violets across the sod, Shielding your holy face from hail and snow; And, though the withered stay, the lovely go. No transitory wrong or wrath of things Shatters the faith -- that each slow minute brings That meadow nearer to us where your feet Shall flutter near me like white butterflies -- That meadow where immortal lovers meet, Gazing forever in immortal eyes. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND A BALLAD OF LONDON (TO H.W. MASSINGHAM) by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE AFTER THE WAR by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE WHAT OF THE DARKNESS?; TO THE HAPPY DEAD PEOPLE by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE |
|