LONG up and down I paced the House of Pain; On their white thrones reclined the dwellers there In regal reticence and superb despair, Maimed, marred, half blotted out, as they had lain For expiation under the disdain Of Life's great, grinding car; repulsive, fair, Old, young, loud, gentle, now alike did bear That kingly quiet whereto those attain Whom Life has conquered, and whom Death has smitten With the universal Light. Their erstwhile fret Forgotten entire beneath the eternal sun, They lay and read in air the old laws written Of silence, and their souls were outward set Where young and old and fair and foul are one. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GROWN-UP TALK by KATHERINE MANSFIELD ON THE SALE OF MY FARM by ROBERT FROST POETRY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SORROW SINGERS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS WAR by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON |