Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DIRGE, by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DIRGE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have been where the white lilies blow
Last Line: Tis in wild eden.
Subject(s): Aging; Singing & Singers; Youth


I HAVE been where the white lilies blow
That no heart ponders;
I have been where the rose-thickets grow,
And love never wanders;
Where the laurel-branch unbroken
Forgets the songful strife;
I have found this Death-in-life;
'Tis in Wild Eden!

There over the low lilied lawns,
Down rose-leaf alleys,
She moves under silent dawns
Through songless valleys;
Cold rose and snow-cold lilies
Shall for the maid be strewn,
Nor laurel for her moan;
'Tis in Wild Eden!

I have sent my songs up to her —
Sweetly youth left me;
I have given my manhood to woo her,
And of all bereft me;
And nightly I wake from the garden
That lieth remote, apart,
On the bourn of the hopeless heart; —
'Tis in Wild Eden.





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