Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IMMORTAL by MIRIAM VEDDER

First Line: DUST WILL GO BACK TO DUST. THERE IS NO CHARM
Last Line: TIME IS NO MEASURE FOR IMMORTAL THINGS!
Subject(s): WELLESLEY COLLEGE;

DUST will go back to dust. There is no charm
By which to add an hour to a summer day,
To keep the fragrance of a wild rose warm
After the fragile petals fall away.
Beauty must pass, and moments that are sweet
Beyond all telling, swiftly, swiftly go,
And man still turn, with still unready feet,
Down one more pathway that he does not know.

Beauty must pass. But beauty that has been
Endures beyond the boundaries of years,
With all things lovely that the heart has seen,
And all things constant that the mind reveres;
For life to death an answering challenge flings:
Time is no measure for immortal things!



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