Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LAMENT FOR GAZA by RICHARD HUGHES

Poet Analysis

First Line: HOW CAN I TELL IT?
Last Line: WHILE GAZA MOCKS.

HOW can I tell it?
I saw a thing
That I did not find strange
In my visioning.

A flawless tall mirror,
Glass dim and green;
And a tall, dim figure
There was between:

Pale, so pale her face
As veils of thin water?
And her eyes water-pale,
And the moonlight on her;

And she was dying, dying;
She combed her long hair,
And the crimson blood ran
In the fine gold there.
She was dying, dying...
And in her perfect eye
No terror lurked; not pity
That she should so die.
You who listen, pity
Gaza, this poor city;
For now the rocks,
And the blind god's hands
Grope at the pillars where he stands:
While Gaza mocks,
While Gaza mocks.



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