Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AT THE GATE OF THE YEAR, by VINCENT JAMES O'SULLIVAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AT THE GATE OF THE YEAR, by                    
First Line: Plunging through on a funeral gale
Last Line: Ere you will kiss mine eyes again?
Alternate Author Name(s): O'suilleabhain, Sean
Subject(s): Holidays; Kisses; Life; New Year; Sea; Soul; Ocean


Plunging through on a funeral gale
The year sweeps out to die at sea,
Under the mournful stars and pale
The gray thing hurries away from me.
Why do I stretch out anguished hands,
Why am I worn and dull with pain?
Sweet friend of friends, in the next year's bands
Will your face look on mine again?

The year sweeps o'er the wailing brood
Of breakers to his place of death;
While on the heights, where erst he stood,
The new year draws generic breath:
He flies, he flies through blinding sleet
His form is wrapped in shrouding rain:
Heart of my heart, shall we two meet
And watch a year pass e'er again?

On the sea's margin breaks the light
And colour of the new year's dawn,
Thoughtful of spring-tide it takes flight
And lingers over wood and lawn.
Ah, weep not so! incline your head
Upon my breast, as you are fain
Soul of my life, shall I be dead
Ere you will kiss mine eyes again?





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