Not without fire can any workman mould The iron to his preconceived design, Nor can the artist without fire refine And purify from all its dross the gold; Nor can revive the phoenix, we are told, Except by fire. Hence if such death be mine I hope to rise again with the divine, Whom death augments, and time cannot make old. O sweet, sweet death! O fortunate fire that burns Within me still to renovate my days, Though I am almost numbered with the dead! If by its nature unto heaven returns This element, me, kindled in its blaze, Will it bear upward when my life is fled. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET: 128 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ODE SUNG AT THE OPENING OF THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION by ALFRED TENNYSON ARMSTRONG'S GOOD NIGHT by THOMAS ARMSTRONG ROMANCE OF DUNOIS by HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS PSALM 16. CONSERVA ME by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE ECHOES OF SPRING: 6 by MATHILDE BLIND WORTH FOREST by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT THE WANDERER: 3. IN ENGLAND: 'CARPE DIEM' by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |