If Death's dread angel came to me to-night, And, smiling, bade me from his chalice drink, I should not, if I know myself aright, In terror from the fatal potion shrink; But rather in submission merely ask A painless passage to the mighty deep, Like one who, weary of a tedious task, Lies down serenely to a welcome sleep. The world is fair, and well I know its face; The sun is warm, and I have loved its light; The stars still glitter in the depths of space, And I have watched them awe-struck many a night. But now I am aweary of them all; What is to be hath been so oft before! Like tides that rise, succeeding those that fall, In ceaseless surf-beats on a sterile shore. The fire that once burned brightly now sinks low, To smouldering ashes wanes its fitful blaze, But in its embers, ere I rise to go, I see again the faces of old days. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CAESAR'S LOST TRANSPORT SHIPS by ROBERT FROST FOREST FLOWERS by ROBERT FROST THOUGHTS OF A TINY PIG by DAVID IGNATOW IVY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON LET ME NOT LOSES MY DREAM by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON O SOUTHLAND! by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON |