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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN THE SHADOWS: 6 by DAVID GRAY (1838-1861)

First Line: SWEETLY, MY MOTHER! GO NOT YET AWAY
Last Line: EXCEPT IN BEING NEAR THEE WITHOUT MEASURE.
Subject(s): MOTHERS;

Sweetly, my mother! Go not yet away --
I have not told my story. Oh, not yet,
With the fair past before me, can I lay
My cheek upon the pillow to forget.
O sweet, fair past, my twenty years of youth
Thus thrown away, not fashioning a man;
But fashioning a memory, forsooth!
More feminine than follower of Pan.
O God! let me not die for years and more!
Fulfil Thyself, and I will live then surely
Longer than a mere childhood. Now heart-sore,
Weary, with being weary -- weary, purely.
In dying, mother, I can find no pleasure
Except in being near thee without measure.



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