It's a fine thing to live and to give life, By that, I mean to make your other self (Whom you've acknowledged to the world as wife And set above all thought of gold or pelf), See in your presence all the hopes of years, Read in your eyes your love and all love means, Cherish the words with which you dry the tears Which often on the face of woman gleams. It's a fine thing to live, and when life's setting sun Fades like the last blush o'er the western hills, When gold and red give place to sombre dun, When ocean deeps have swallowed shallow rills, Then will the joys of life be judged in truth, Then will you know that life you gave to her Was the foundation of eternal youth, Which waits for you beyond the sepulchre. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FEW RULES FOR BEGINNERS by KATHERINE MANSFIELD SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: FLETCHER MCGEE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE WAR THAT ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK by JAMES GALVIN SORROW SINGERS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON LIKE A BULRUSH by MARIANNE MOORE |