Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 95. THE VASE OF LIFE, by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI


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THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 95. THE VASE OF LIFE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Around the vase of life at your slow pace
Last Line: Stands empty till his ashes fall in it.
Alternate Author Name(s): Rossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante
Subject(s): Failure; Life; Success


AROUND the vase of Life at your slow pace
He has not crept, but turned it with his hands,
And all its sides already understands.
There, girt, one breathes alert for some great race;
Whose road runs far by sands and fruitful space;
Who laughs, yet through the jolly throng has pass'd;
Who weeps, nor stays for weeping; who at last,
A youth, stands somewhere crowned, with silent face.

And he has filled this vase with wine for blood,
With blood for tears, with spice for burning vow,
With watered flowers for buried love most fit;
And would have cast it shattered to the flood,
Yet in Fate's name has kept it whole; which now
Stands empty till his ashes fall in it.





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