It is not life's bright hope or hell's dark terrors, Or earthly benison for my poor heart, Or spirit prescient of the mind's dumb errors That bid me shun the easy, bloodless part. Nor is it that my eyes shall soon forget The flaming breath of sunset in the west, Or that my lips in frigid firmness set Shall soon be careless of thy lips at best. Dark are the dim, remembered paths of earth Where once our feet in laughing measures sped, Dark are the days that echo my heart's dearth As I stand halting 'mongst the living dead. I should not quail at heaven's beckoning moan, Only that going I shall leave thee lone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IF IT WERE NOT FOR YOU by HAYDEN CARRUTH BE TRUE [THYSELF] by HORATIO (HORATIUS) BONAR METRICAL FEET by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE A VALEDICTION: OF MY NAME IN THE WINDOW by JOHN DONNE INVITATION TO LOVE by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A STORM IN THE DISTANCE (AMONG THE GEORGIAN HILLS) by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE PEACE by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS |