IN the evening, when the world knew he was dead, He lay amid the dust and hoar Of ages; and to a spirit attending said: "This chalky bed? -- I surely seem to have been here before?" "O yes. You have been here. You knew the place, Substanced as you, long ere your call: And if you cared to do so you might trace In this gray space Your being, and the being of men all." Thereto said he: "Then why was I called away? I knew no trouble or discontent: Why did I not prolong my ancient stay Herein for aye?" The spirit shook its head. "None knows: you went. "And though, perhaps, Time did not sign to you The need to go, dream-vision sees How Aesculapius' phantom hither flew, With Galen's, too, And his of Cos -- plague-proof Hippocrates, "And beckoned you forth, whose skill had read as theirs Maybe, had Science chanced to spell In their day, modern modes to stem despairs That mankind bears!. . . Enough. You have returned. And all is well." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BELEAGUERED CITY by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW SHADOWS: 2 by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES THE RUSTIC LAD'S LAMENT IN THE TOWN by DAVID MACBETH MOIR THE NIGHT [NICHT] IS NEAR [NIGH] GONE by ALEXANDER MONTGOMERIE GOD'S DETERMINATIONS: THE JOY OF CHURCH FELLOWSHIP RIGHTLY ATTENDED by EDWARD TAYLOR A BROADWAY PAGEANT by WALT WHITMAN THE FROGS: A 'EURIPIDEAN' CHORUS by ARISTOPHANES |