-- "Is the child dead?" -- And they said, "He is dead." IN face of a great sorrow like to death How do we wrestle night and day with tears; How do we fast and pray; how small appears The outside world, while, hanging on some breath Of fragile hope, the chamber where we lie Includes all space. -- But if sudden at last The blow falls; or by incredulity Fond led, we -- never having one thought cast Towards years where "the child" was not -- see it die, And with it all our future, all our past, -- We just look round us with a dull surprise: For lesser pangs we had filled earth with cries Of wild and angry grief that would be heard: -- But when the heart is broken -- not a word. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BISHOP BLOUGRAM'S APOLOGY by ROBERT BROWNING ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 14 by PHILIP SIDNEY PLACES: 2. FULL MOON (SANTA BARBARA) by SARA TEASDALE VERSES ADDRESSED TO IMITATOR OF FIRST SATIRE OF HORACE by MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU SEVEN SAD SONNETS: 7. THEY MEET AGAIN by MARY REYNOLDS ALDIS EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 26. PLATONIC LOVE by PHILIP AYRES S. MARY MAGDALEN'S OINTMENT by JOSEPH BEAUMONT OFF BARNEGAT by ETHEL LYNN BEERS ODE FOR AN AGRICULTURAL CELEBRATION by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT |