Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HOUSE OF REST, by PATRICK MACGILL



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HOUSE OF REST, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Unto a land unknown to me I came on some
Last Line: I sleep content for endless years and never wish to speak a word.
Subject(s): Death; God; Love; Rest; Dead, The


UNTO a land unknown to me I came on some strange mission sent,
A lonely pilgrim from the night I wandered on a wonder way,
And said, "I'll seek athrough the world for rest and unalloyed content,"
And sought beneath the frigid stars, and sought beneath the fretful day.

I saw the House of Toil, and there the people died for lack of bread,
There gnawing hunger kept her rule relentless o'er the battered roof,
And in the House of Love they wept for spoken words and words unsaid —
I gripped my staff in mute despair and firmly kept myself aloof.

The House of Wealth was fair to see, all damascened and diapered,
But inside riot reigned supreme, and sated men had blighted health,
While outside gaunt-eyed forms went by, and starving children's cries were
heard,
And godless ones with sinful souls crept in and ransacked it by stealth.

The House of God was passing grand, with moulded arch and sculptured door,
With picture, psalter, pulpit, pew, with printed prayer and priceless pyx,
But from within an endless wail was wafted upwards evermore,
And hair was rent and sackcloth worn beneath the silent crucifix.

The House of Azreel stands alone, and greater than abyssmal night
The gloom of it, and depth of it, unruffled by the softest breath —
The door is ope, I enter there, and dressed in robes of pallid white,
I greet the worm, and rest me in the House of Azreel and of Death.

And here where never mellow morn may send a ray of light or bliss,
Where never lingering winds are borne, where never maiden's voice is heard,
Afar from holiness and hate, from kindness and the soulless kiss,
I sleep content for endless years and never wish to speak a word.





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