Thanking God for life and light, Strength and joyous breath, Should we not, with reverent lips, Thank Him, too, for death? When would man's injustice cease, Did not stern Death bring Those who cheated and oppressed To their reckoning? Would not life's long sordidness On our spirits pall, If our years should last forever, And the earth were all? On us, withered with life's heat, Falls death's cooling dew, And our parched souls' dusty leaves Their lost green renew. Ah, though deep the grave-dust hide Love and courage high, Life a paltrier thing would be If we could not die! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET: 97 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AN ATHENIAN GARDEN by TRUMBULL STICKNEY THE ABBOT OF INISFALEN by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM THE RIGHT MARY by CLARIBEL WEEKS AVERY A CHARACTER by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES TO THE LORD LOVE (AT THE APPROACH OF OLD AGE) by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY |