I stand outside a church this summer day; The sky is blue above the golden cross, Around me purple lilacs droop and toss, Among the trees the birds sing blithe and gay. Through open windows floats a solemn lay, A funeral hymn wailing a human loss O'er a loved body, soon forsaken dross. Hark! now the organ ceases. Hush! they pray. O barren brightness of the summer skies! O singing birds, and warm, sweet-scented wind! Ye tell me not to whom those voices sound. Fair nature, heaven enough to my poor eyes, O bid me not in thee my joy to find! No lasting peace is in thy beauty found. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TEARS IN SLEEP by LOUISE BOGAN THE PALM TREE by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS AUTUMN DAY by RAINER MARIA RILKE MOON OF LOVELINESS by MUHAMMAD AL-MU'TAMID II FESSEDEN'S GARDEN by ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN THE OMINOUS TIMES by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE |