Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HEAVEN AND HELL, by WILLIAM WATSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HEAVEN AND HELL, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Speed not afar, thou wandering wraith
Last Line: "for evermore."
Alternate Author Name(s): Watson, John William
Subject(s): Earth; Heaven; Hell; Religion; World; Paradise; Theology


"SPEED not afar, thou wandering Wraith,
Speed not afar, but tell
If thou hast climbed the towers of heaven,
Or paced the crypts of hell."

"Heaven -- what is heaven? 'Tis but to see
Thy good deeds branch and bloom,
And know that they make sweet the earth,
When thou art in thy tomb."

"And hell?" -- "'Tis everlastingly
Thine ill deeds to behold,
Each quick and warm, and multiplied
An hundredfold."

"And thou thyself, dim-drifting Ghost --
Liv'st thou in heaven or hell?"
"In both have I a halting place,
In neither may I dwell!

"I watch my good and evil deeds
Like marching armies pour,
And so 'twixt hell and heaven am torn
For evermore."





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