Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PLACE OF REST, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL Poet's Biography First Line: I am not happy, though my smiles betoken Last Line: "with triumph towering in thy shattered shield!" Subject(s): Death; Grief; Past; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness | ||||||||
I AM not happy, though my smiles betoken The jocund fancies which I do not feel; I am not happy, all my hopes are broken Upon the world's inexorable wheel. 'Tis said the dying shed no useless tears, And so, I weep not for the vanished years. I weep not for them, though they flock around me In solitude, and in the noontide glare; I weep not for them, though fond eyes confound me, With midnight havened in their realmless stare. With jests upon my lips I stand aghast O'er the Dead Angel that we call the Past. No More! O terrible, wild word! the days That have been shudder in the iron grave; And lo, I totter on, in blind amaze, 'Mid the black gulches of th' o'erwhelming wave: No star-bright seas, no Pharos-litten shore, While the hoarse Raven croaks, "No More! No More!" And still I weep not, it may be, alas! That I am hardened into more than stone Ah, happy they whose hearts like brittle glass, Break ere the worst of bitterness is known. The cold remain, the gentle pass away, In their white innocencehow happy they! The drums are clattering in the crowded streets, The fife and bugle warlike concords blend, The roar of cannon to my soul repeats: "Peace, weary one, thy pilgrimage can end There's rest for thee upon the battle field, With triumph towering in thy shattered shield!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONOMA FIRE by JANE HIRSHFIELD AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS JOHN PELHAM by JAMES RYDER RANDALL |
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