Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DEAD BEFORE DEATH, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DEAD BEFORE DEATH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah! Changed and cold, how changed and very cold
Last Line: So cold and lost for ever evermore.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


Ah! changed and cold, how changed and very cold!
With stiffened smiling lips and cold calm eyes:
Changed, yet the same; much knowing, little wise;
This was the promise of the days of old!
Grown hard and stubborn in the ancient mold,
Grown rigid in the sham of lifelong lies:
We hoped for better things as years would rise,
But it is over as a tale once told.
All fallen the blossom that no fruitage bore,
All lost the present and the future time,
All lost, all lost, the lapse that went before:
So lost till death shut-to the opened door,
So lost from chime to everlasting chime,
So cold and lost for ever evermore.





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