Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LUX EST UMBRA DEI, by JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS


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LUX EST UMBRA DEI, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Nay, death, thou art a shadow! Even as light
Last Line: What shade can shroud us from god's deathless day?
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


NAY, Death, thou art a shadow! Even as light
Is but the shadow of invisible God,
And of that shade the shadow is thin Night,
Veiling the earth whereon our feet have trod;
So art Thou but the shadow of this life,
Itself the pale and unsubstantial shade
Of living God, fulfill'd by love and strife
Throughout the universe Himself hath made:
And as frail Night, following the flight of earth,
Obscures the world we breathe in, for a while,
So Thou, the reflex of our mortal birth,
Veilest the life wherein we weep and smile:
But when both earth and life are whirl'd away,
What shade can shroud us from God's deathless day?





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