They have no pact to sign—our peaceful dead. Pacts are for trembling hands and heads grown gray. Ten million graves record what youth has said, And cannot now unsay. They have no pact to sign—our quiet dead Whose eyes in that eternal peace are drowned. Age doubts and wakes, and asks if night be fled; But youth sleeps sound. They have no pact to sign—our faithful dead. Theirs is a deeper pledge, unseen, unheard, Sealed in the dark, unwritten, sealed with red; And they will keep @3their@1 word. They have no pact to sign—our happy dead. But if, O God, if WE should sign in vain, With dreadful eyes, out of each narrow bed, Our dead will rise again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CREDO by WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY SPRING by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS ST. ISAAC'S CHURCH, PETROGRAD by CLAUDE MCKAY IN MEMORIAM: W.G. WARD by ALFRED TENNYSON IF THE POETS HAD FEARED THE ADVERTISERS by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS NAMELESS PAIN by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH WINDOW TRIMMER by MARGARET LEE ASHLEY |