Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AFTER THE LAST LESSON, by EFFIE WALLER SMITH Poet's Biography First Line: How wonderful he seems to me Last Line: Stands clear before our eyes. Subject(s): Death - Children; Teaching & Teachers; Death - Babies | ||||||||
How wonderful he seems to me, Now that the lessons are all read, And, smiling through the stillness dim, The child I taught lies dead! I was his teacher yesterday -- Now, could his silent lips unclose, What lessons might he teach to me Of the vast truth he knows! Last week he bent his anxious brows O'er maps with puzzling Poles and Zone; Now he, perchance, knows more than all The scientists have known. "Death humbleth all" -- ah, say not so! The man we scorn, the child we teach Death in a moment places far Past all earth's lore can reach. Death bringeth men unto their own! He tears aside Life's thin disguise, And man's true greatness, all unknown, Stands clear before our eyes. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LOST CHILDREN by RANDALL JARRELL THE MOURNER by LOUISE MOREY BOWMAN MELANCHOLY; AN ODE by WILLIAM BROOME SISTERS IN ARMS by AUDRE LORDE A BOTANICAL TROPE by WILLIAM MEREDITH FOR MOHAMMED ZEID OF GAZA, AGE 15 by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE A GOOD-BYE by EFFIE WALLER SMITH |
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