Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 3, by ALFRED TENNYSON


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IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 3, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Old sorrow, cruel fellowship
Last Line: Upon the threshold of the mind?
Alternate Author Name(s): Tennyson, Lord Alfred; Tennyson, 1st Baron; Tennyson Of Aldworth And Farringford, Baron
Subject(s): Hallam, Arthur Henry (1811-1833); Death; Mourning; Friendship


O Sorrow, cruel fellowship,
O Priestess in the vaults of Death,
O sweet and bitter in a breath,
What whispers from thy lying lip?

'The stars,' she whispers, 'blindly run;
A web is woven across the sky;
From out waste places comes a cry,
And murmurs from the dying sun;

'And all the phantom, Nature, stands --
With all the music in her tone,
A hollow echo of my own, --
A hollow form with empty hands.'

And shall I take a thing so blind,
Embrace her as my natural good;
Or crush her, like a vice of blood,
Upon the threshold of the mind?





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