Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LAST COMPLAINT, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LAST COMPLAINT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Woe is me! An old man said
Last Line: My last look of the clear moon.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Aging; Death; Life; Sleep; Dead, The


Woe is me! an old man said
Stretched upon his dying bed:
Woe is me! for life is short;
And one hour cannot be bought
With great treasure or long thought.
What have all my days been worth?
Weary labour without gain,
Pleasure ending in much pain,
Planting that brought forth no fruit,
Tree of life struck at the root,
Were my portion from my birth:
But my cold heart sickeneth
Shrinking from the touch of death;
And I fain would have again
Toil and weariness and pain
For a short time more on earth.
Yet the time was troublesome,
And the days lagged slowly on;
Surely it is better so:
And I cannot grieve to go
Hence. How fast the shadows come: --
Light and darkness both grow wan: --
Is that fire? it is not heat.
Cover up my face and feet;
Stand back; do not speak to me:
I would think how it will be
When the sun is blotted from
My existence, and the worm
Dwells with me as friend with friend
For a certain measured term.
But his term will have an end:
Then I shall be quite alone,
Quite alone without a sound;
For no wind beneath the ground
Can come jarring bone with bone.
Without eyes I shall behold
Darkness, and shall feel the cold
Without nerves, or brain, or flesh; --
Oh sweet air that blowest fresh;
Oh sweet stars that glimmer through
The dim casement; -- I shall soon
Have a sod instead of you.
Draw the curtains, while I wake
Who shall sleep; and let me lie
In the blackness, till I die;
For I cannot bear to take
My last look of the clear moon.





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