Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SALUTATION, by JOHN HALL WHEELOCK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SALUTATION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You, perhaps yet unborn, that some day shall read these rhymes
Last Line: What love, what longing, my brother, speaks to you from this page!
Subject(s): Greetings


You, perhaps yet unborn, that some day shall read these rhymes --
Know that I was a man even as yourself, and from the womb
Issued in nakedness, also that I suffered the doom
Common to all men, and that I pondered these things many times;

And ceased. So shall you cease: brief are the days and few.
I have made these songs that we for a moment might partake
Of the one dream. This is my spirit offered for your sake.
Eat, drink; this is my spirit given for you.

It is night, and we are alone together; your head
Bends over the open book, your feeding eyes devour
The substance of my dream. O sacred hour
That makes us one -- you, fleeting, and I, already fled!

Here is my love, here is my sorrow, my heart's rage,
Poured out for you. What tenderness brooding above you
Hallows these songs! I have made them all for you. I love you.
What love, what longing, my brother, speaks to you from this page!





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