Classic and Contemporary Poetry
NIGHT AND MORNING, by ANONYMOUS First Line: Was it a lie that they told me Last Line: Rejoice! I have heard thee! Arise! Subject(s): Lies | ||||||||
WAS it a lie that they told me, Was it a pitiless hoax? A sop for my soul and its longing Only to cozen and coax? And a voice came down through the night and rain: "They lied; thou hast trusted in vain." Must I vanish off-hand into darkness, Blown out with a breath like a lamp? Have I nought in the future to look to Save rotting in darkness and damp? And the answer came with a mocking hiss: "Thou hast nothing to look to save this." What of the grave and its conquest, Of death and the loss of its sting? Was it only the brag of a madman Who believed an impossible thing? And the voice returned, as the voice of a ghost: "It was but a madman's boast." Am I the serf of my senses? Is my soul a slave without rights? Are feeding and breeding and sleeping My first and truest delights? And the cruel answer cut me afresh: "Thou art but the serf of thy flesh." Is it all for nought that I travail, That I long for leisure from sin, That I thirst for the pure and the perfect, And feel like a god within? The voice replied to my passionate thought: "Thy longing and travail is nought." Then I bowed my head in my anguish, Folding my face in my hands, And I shuddered as one that sinketh In the clutch of quaking sands. And I stared, as I clinched my fingers tight, Out through the black, black night. For life was shorn of its meaning, And I cried: "O God, is it so? Utter the truth though it slay me, Utter it, yes or no!" But I heard no answer to heal my pain, Save the bluster of wind and rain. And behold, as I sat in my sorrow, A quick ray shot from the east, Another and then another, And I knew that the night had ceased. And the dark clouds rolled away to the west As the great sun rose from his rest. And now, as the fair dawn broadened, Strong and joyous and bright, My whole soul swept to meet it, Rapt with a deep delight; And a new voice rang down the radiant skies: "Rejoice; I have heard thee. Arise." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TOMORROW by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD LYING MY HEAD OFF by CATE MARVIN THE BOOK OF LIES by JAMES TATE THE CONFESSIONAL by ROBERT BROWNING OUR LIES AND THEIR BEAUTY by BRUCE WEIGL THE MAIDS OF ELFIN-MERE by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM TIS A LITTLE JOURNEY by ANONYMOUS |
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