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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ALCESTIS SPEAKS by THOMAS STURGE MOORE

First Line: O GLAD DEVOTION FLUSHING UP THE SKY
Last Line: "LIKE THEM BLOW KISSES TO THE BIRDS THAT SING."

"O GLAD Devotion flushing up the sky,
Dawn brighter than a child's best mornings are,
Art seen, yet deemed for human strength too far?
We, prone to view an end, of Hope too shy,
Too diffident, await Fate's casting die
Much as Fear waits. Westward speeds every star;
Some, which set quick upon the sun, there are
Drop into it; those glory, so may I.
Love should not barter like coarse traffickers
Nor buy with abnegation any store
Of helps...Did not my children thank me for
The rising moon not mine to give nor theirs?..
Let me, a child, own gifts in everything;
Like them blow kisses to the birds that sing."



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