I stand outside a church this summer day; The sky is blue above the golden cross, Around me purple lilacs droop and toss, Among the trees the birds sing blithe and gay. Through open windows floats a solemn lay, A funeral hymn wailing a human loss O'er a loved body, soon forsaken dross. Hark! now the organ ceases. Hush! they pray. O barren brightness of the summer skies! O singing birds, and warm, sweet-scented wind! Ye tell me not to whom those voices sound. Fair nature, heaven enough to my poor eyes, O bid me not in thee my joy to find! No lasting peace is in thy beauty found. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...YOUTH AND AGE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE MOON by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE DARK-EYED GENTLEMAN by THOMAS HARDY MOLLY PITCHER [JUNE 28, 1778] by LAURA ELIZABETH HOWE RICHARDS ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 68 by PHILIP SIDNEY A QUESTION by JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE O MAGNET-SOUTH by WALT WHITMAN |