Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LAST WORDS by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: HE LEFT ME FOR A FOREIGN LAND
Last Line: "SHALL BEAM UPON US -- THERE!"
Subject(s): GOD; SUN; TEARS;
HE left me for a foreign land:
I could not even free
One little tear to gem the hand
That God had given me;
For "I will follow soon, my dear,"
I laughed with girlish air, --
"The sun that cheers our pathway here
Shall beam upon us there!"

And so we parted. . . . Listen, God! --
I may not even free
One little tear to dew the sod
Where, sleeping peacefully,
He waits in foreign lands -- my dear!
But prophecy and prayer, --
"The sun that cheers our pathway here
Shall beam upon us -- @3there!"@1



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