Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PAST AND PRESENT, by FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PAST AND PRESENT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: As I hear the breath of the mother
Last Line: And the night falls heavy and sweet.
Subject(s): Time


AS I hear the breath of the mother
To the breath of the child at her feet
Answer in even whispers,
When night falls heavy and sweet:

Sleep puts out silent fingers,
And leads me back to the roar
Of the dead salt sea that vomits
Wrecks of the past ashore.

I see the lost Love in beauty
Go gliding over the main:
I feel the ancient sweetness,
The worm and wormwood again.

Earth all one tomb lies round me,
Domed with an iron sky:
And God himself in his power,
God cannot save me! I cry.

With the cry I wake; -- and around me
The mother and child at her feet
Breathe peace in even whispers;
And the night falls heavy and sweet.





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