Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE MATERIALIST SPEAKS by BERNICE LESBIA KENYON

First Line: I HAVE DESIRED LIFE
Last Line: FOR THESE I DESIRE LIFE.
Subject(s): MATERIALISM; WELLESLEY COLLEGE;

I HAVE desired life
Above all other things;
For death is ever rife
In all things of the earth;
And who can say rebirth
Comes to the soul, or brings
To the mind again the light
Of cloudless days, or the sound
Of the wind, or the matchless sight
Of reddened autumn leaves,
Or the gold of ripened sheaves . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

These things I have known . . . Though strife
Of swift contending mind
Seeking ever to find
The ever unfound things
Is all to no avail,
Yet for the love of the strife,
And for beauty, that cannot fail,
For these I desire life.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net