Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO ALL FRIENDS, by FRANCIS CHARLES MCDONALD First Line: When this corruptible must be Last Line: Ring with it. I shall be there! Subject(s): Friendship; Funerals; Parties; Burials | ||||||||
When this corruptible must be Got rid of, do not make for me A solemn funeral, nor prepare A ritual, nor mark with care The burial-place of my old bones With rose-bushes and ugly stones . . . I fear a pious epitaph Would make the sad survivors laugh. But since I must be buried, go Lightly with me, that men may know How happy we shall all be when We find a way to meet again; And where you put me, in that place I shall be quiet, by God's grace. I shall be quiet? That thing, -- I? These be the signs to know me by: When, on an autumn night, you feel Home-sick for God-knows-where, and steal Out into darkness, wistfully . . . There in the darkness I shall be. Or on a spring night, when the air Is full of lilacs everywhere, And suddenly, not knowing why, You stop and wonder . . . That is I. Or when, on summer nights, the flash Of imminent lightning, and the crash Of thunder waken you from your sleep, Come, -- join the vigils I shall keep! But, winter nights, I shall not haunt The lonely roads, nor in the gaunt Ungenial gardens shall I be, Crouching for shelter by a tree . . . God, no! But let your fancy stray To some wild snowy yesterday, And stir the fire. Put out the light, And say: "We have with us to-night . . ." Do not spend your money on stones To set above my mortal bones, But give a party. Let the air Ring with it. I shall be there! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FUNERAL SERMON by ANDREW HUDGINS RETURN FROM DELHI by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE SCATTERING OF EVAN JONES'S ASHES by GALWAY KINNELL BROWNING'S FUNERAL by H. T. MACKENZIE BELL FALLING ASLEEP OVER THE AENEID by ROBERT LOWELL MY FATHER'S BODY by WILLIAM MATTHEWS A SONG by FRANCIS CHARLES MCDONALD |
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