Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SHE IS NOT DEAD, by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: She is not dead - oh! Do not say she's dead Last Line: The pensive glories of these eyes so blue. Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, Isaac Subject(s): Death; Dead, The | ||||||||
SHE is not dead -- oh! do not say she's dead. Good friends, she lives! what though the rose hath fled From her sweet face, doth not the lily there As beautiful a form and 'semblance bear? Good friends, I say she lives! her beauty lives! And death destroys all loveliness of hue; And were she dead, that lustre life but gives, From her, methinks, would have evanished too. Good friends, join with me -- do but give me space To feast upon the beauties of this face. She lives in death, she triumphs in the tomb, And, like a grave's flower, springs in fresher bloom The nearer it is planted to the dead! Raise, raise a little more her drooping head; Her bosom heaves not -- 'tis, like marble, white, And, like it, cold. But mark how exquisite And finely fashioned is this pale stiff arm Which sleeps upon it; touch it, it will not harm. No, not one finger moves; they're locked in sleep, And very cold withal; pray do not weep, Else I would weep too, that I could not break Her pleasant slumbers for your pity's sake. Good friends, I pray withdraw that veil once more, And say, is she not lovely as before; Hath not this brow, this cheek, this neck, this arm, And this fair body all some goodly charm Hovering around them, though the soul is gone On some far pilgrimage from this bright one? Men say this maiden loved me -- simple me, Even from the cradle and sweet infancy, Till we had learned speech to speak our loves As others do, by streams and shaded groves; But that is false in part, for never word Of love from either lip by us was heard; The tongue is false and cogging, but the eye, The vanishing rosy smile, speak faithfully. Yes, Love beneath these cold lids did repair As to a crystal palace, there to blend His essence with the lights they did defend; And when they op'd their portals, what a light Poured from the worlds they hid! Two bright All-radiant worlds -- two stars of living fire, Having joint sway and majesty entire Within their fair domains and beauteous spheres, And gemmed with diamonds like to dropping tears, And Love was there enshrined, and laughed through, The pensive glories of these eyes so blue. | 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 JEANIE MORRISON by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL |
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