Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WANING FIRE, by JOHN LAWSON STODDARD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WANING FIRE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If death's dread angel came to me to-night
Last Line: I see again the faces of old days.
Subject(s): Death; Fear; Life; Soul; Dead, The


If Death's dread angel came to me to-night,
And, smiling, bade me from his chalice drink,
I should not, if I know myself aright,
In terror from the fatal potion shrink;

But rather in submission merely ask
A painless passage to the mighty deep,
Like one who, weary of a tedious task,
Lies down serenely to a welcome sleep.

The world is fair, and well I know its face;
The sun is warm, and I have loved its light;
The stars still glitter in the depths of space,
And I have watched them awe-struck many a night.

But now I am aweary of them all;
What is to be hath been so oft before!
Like tides that rise, succeeding those that fall,
In ceaseless surf-beats on a sterile shore.

The fire that once burned brightly now sinks low,
To smouldering ashes wanes its fitful blaze,
But in its embers, ere I rise to go,
I see again the faces of old days.





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