Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ANIMA ANCEPS, by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ANIMA ANCEPS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Till death have broken
Last Line: Under the earth.
Subject(s): Death; Life; Soul; Dead, The


TILL death have broken
Sweet life's love-token,
Till all be spoken
That shall be said,
What dost thou praying,
O soul, and playing
With song and saying,
Things flown and fled
For this we know not --
That fresh springs flow not
And fresh grief grows not
When men are dead;
When strange years cover
Lover and lover,
And joys are over
And tears are shed.

If one day's sorrow
Mar the day's morrow --
If man's life borrow
And man's death pay --
If souls once taken,
If lives once shaken,
Arise, awaken,
By night, by day --
Why with strong crying
And years of sighing,
Living and dying,
Fast ye and pray?
For all your weeping,
Waking and sleeping;
Death comes to reaping
And takes away.
Though time rend after
Roof-tree from rafter,
A little laughter
Is much more worth
Than thus to measure
The hour, the treasure,
The pain, the pleasure,
The death, the birth;
Grief, when days alter,
Like joy shall falter;
Song-book and psalter,
Mourning and mirth.
Live like the swallow;
Seek not to follow
Where earth is hollow
Under the earth.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net