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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FOR ALAN by HANIEL (CLARK) LONG

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE SHAPES OF WAKING MOMENTS WEARIED HIM
Last Line: AND NOW, WRAPT WITH HIS MAIDEN, HE IS MUTE.

The shapes of waking moments wearied him,
Heroic beauty stirred him as he slept;
And so he lived his youth, and so he crept
Back to the old shadows beautiful and dim.
But at the call to arms his eyes were grim;
Dreams must be saved! So he, the dream adept,
Seeing young Death afar where Horrow swept,
Leapt with a lover's trembling in each limb.
He sought her out he knew to be his maiden
And cried to her he flamed for as his bride.
The thundering guns were viols for his suit,
And iron shards his couch. The day was laden
With scent of deadly blossoms, and he died -
And now, wrapt with his maiden, he is mute.



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