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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TESTAMENT by SARA TEASDALE

Poet Analysis

First Line: I SAID, 'I WILL TAKE MY LIFE'
Last Line: "AND SUFFER WITH MY RACE."

I SAID, "I will take my life
And throw it away;
I who was fire and song
Will turn to clay."

"I will lie no more in the night
With shaken breath,
I will toss my heart in the air
To be caught by Death."

But out of the night I heard,
Like the inland sound of the sea,
The hushed and terrible sob
Of all humanity.

Then I said, "Oh who am I
To scorn God to his face?
I will bow my head and stay
And suffer with my race."




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