Fixed is the doom; and to the last of years Teacher and taught, friend, lover, parent, child, Each walks, though near, yet separate; each beholds His dear ones shine beyond him like the stars. We also, love, forever dwell apart; With cries approach, with cries behold the gulph, The Unvaulted; as two great eagles that do wheel in air Above a mountain, and with screams confer, Far heard athwart the cedars.Yet the years Shall bring us ever nearer; day by day Endearing, week by week, till death at last Dissolve that long divorce. By faith we love, Not knowledge; and by faith, though far removed, Dwell as in perfect nearness, heart to heart. We but excuse Those things we merely are; and to our souls A brave deception cherish. So from unhappy war a man returns Unfearing, or the seaman from the deep; So from cool night and woodlands to a feast May someone enter, and still breathe of dews, And in her eyes still wear the dusky night. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO JOHN KEATS, POET, AT SPRING TIME by COUNTEE CULLEN MY LADY'S TEARS by JOHN DOWLAND ON THE DEATH OF LITTLE MAHALA ASHCRAFT by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY LIVE BLINDLY; SONNET by TRUMBULL STICKNEY THE DAY-DREAM: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY by ALFRED TENNYSON AN APPREHENSION by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |