Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FOR RICHARD SPENDER, by MARY DOREEN SPENDER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FOR RICHARD SPENDER, by                    
First Line: Gone in an instant
Last Line: And what, beyond our sight, its secret orbit shows.
Subject(s): Death; Generals; World War Ii; Dead, The; Second World War


Gone in an instant
Like a light, when fingers touch the switch,
In the last second of his consciousness,
Leading his men in Tunis.
Gone, like the light.
And yet, not like the light. He suffered and he sang.
And in his growth he rooted in our hearts,
Until he seems the fabric of our lives.
So in the Spring we stand, our eyes still gazing,
For all the thousand tints of green and myriad flowers
Seem just for him—not wreaths spread on a grave,
But little brother buds that blow and glow beside him.
Our ears, too, listen to the song of birds,
Which fall felicitous from green hedge and tree,
Voices as sweet and piercing as his own.

That grey-haired age should weep with mordant sorrow
For lovely golden youth in glorious Spring,
—A sad reversal of accustomed ways!
And yet—who knows?
A comet on the low horizon
Shines in the dark before the break of day.
A mystery to us, what path it follows hidden,
And what, beyond our sight, its secret orbit shows.





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