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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


BESIDE A BIER by LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON

Poet Analysis

First Line: I HAD NEVER KISSED HER HER WHOLE LIFE LONG
Last Line: "IT IS COLD, DOWN HERE BELOW."
Subject(s): GRAVES; LOVE; TOMBS; TOMBSTONES;

I HAD never kissed her her whole life long, --
Now I stand by her bier does she feel
How, with love that the waiting years made strong,
I set on her lips my seal?

Will she wear my kiss in the grave's long night,
And wake sometimes with a thrill
From dreams of the old life's missed delight,
To feel that the grave is chill?

"It was warm," will she say, "in that world above;
It was warm, but I did not know
How he loved me there, with his whole life's love --
It is cold, down here below."




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