SPRING has departed; early days' sweet scent Has changed to summer's sultry pungency; Our youth has gone, no dream-flecked galaxy Decks the gray fields of days that are unspent. We're born upon a headland bare and rent By the dim-beaconed sea, Eternity! With sweat and blood -- such is man's history! We've bought some shells, and lo, our lives are spent! And yet I've ne'er loved more the day's dear sight. -- "Eternity" the lips of infants bear -- Before thee, Life, I bow on bended knees; E'en as a shaded flow'ret looks for light -- The stalk can scarcely its own weight upbear -- With suppliant hands, thy shining rays I seize. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MINOR POET by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET AUGUST FIRST by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE HILL ABOVE THE MINE by MALCOLM COWLEY I LOOKED FOR LIFE AND DID A SHADOW SEE by JAMES GALVIN INDEPENDENCE DAY, 1956, A FAIRY TALE by JAMES GALVIN WITH CHAOS IN EACH KISS by TIMOTHY LIU |