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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CONVICTION by N. R. A. BECKER

First Line: HE IS NOT DEAD, THIS FRIEND
Last Line: HE IS NOT DEAD.
Subject(s): DEATH; PRISONS & PRISONERS; DEAD, THE; CONVICTS;
He is not dead, this friend
Who talked with me but yesterday
Of life and love and all the things
That men in exile cherish most
And may not have; who stood
So cleanly tall beside my cot
And spoke of things we both had seen,
Of friends we both had known,
Of books, of songs, of poetry
We both knew well and loved.

In all who saw his smile,
In all who heard his voice,
In all who knew him for the man he was
His manhood lives and will live on.
Clear as the noon-day sun he lights the way
For those who come behind
And, smiling as of old, sends back the word:
He is not dead.



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