Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A DEATH SONG, by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DEATH SONG, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: What cometh here from west to east a-wending?
Last Line: But one and all if they would dusk the day.
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


WHAT cometh here from west to east a-wending?
And who are these, the marchers stern and slow?
We bear the message that the rich are sending
Aback to those who bade them wake and know.
Now one, not one, nor thousands must they slay,
But one and all if they would dusk the day.
We ask'd them for a life of toilsome earning,
They bade us bide their leisure for our bread;
We crav'd to speak to tell our woeful learning:
We come back speechless, bearing back our dead.

They will not learn; they have no ears to hearken;
They turn their faces from the eyes of fate;
Their gay-lit halls shut out the skies that darken.
But, lo! this dead man knocking at the gate.

Here lies the sign that we shall break our prison;
Amidst the storm he won a prisoner's rest;
But in the cloudy dawn the sun arisen
Brings us our day of work to win the best.
Not one, not one, nor thousands must they slay,
But one and all if they would dusk the day.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net