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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WHY BRAND DEATH?, by ALICE L. REYBOLD
First Line: Why brand death infamous except life press
Last Line: We plead a boon -- release from arid loam!
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The
First Line: Why brand death infamous except life press
Last Line: We plead a boon -- release from arid loam!
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The
Why brand death infamous except life press
Beyond this fog to prove inherent worth?
Surely the pear bloom droops not for new birth.
Surely memory lingers, a mute caress,
An immortality lovelier to possess
Than twice-blown blossoms. The brown wren, dashed to earth
With vacant throat, needs no new spring. No dearth
Of renate song reveals him thus unblessed.
Is it indeed a bitter thing to die
Finding no Houris nor Valhalla's dome?
But come that glowing hour for which men sigh,
Bright hour, when love gains her long-sought-for home,
Then from the gods with hoarse, pathetic cry
We plead a boon -- release from arid loam!
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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
CARL MILLES MONUMENT by ALICE L. REYBOLD