HE should have followed who goes forth before us, Last born of us in life, in death first-born: The last to lift up eyes against the morn, The first to see the sunset. Life, that bore us Perchance for death to comfort and restore us, Of him hath left us here awhile forlorn, For him is as a garment overworn, And time and change, with suns and stars in chorus, Silent. But if, beyond all change or time, A law more just, more equal, more sublime Than sways the surge of life's loud sterile sea Sways that still world whose peace environs him, Where death lies dead as night when stars wax dim, Above all thought or hope of ours is he. August 2, 1891. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPISTLE IN FORM OF A BALLAD TO HIS FRIENDS by FRANCOIS VILLON TO JOHN KEATS, POET, AT SPRING TIME by COUNTEE CULLEN A CAROL CLOSING SIXTY-NINE by WALT WHITMAN PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 95, 96. AL-AZALI, AL-BAKI by EDWIN ARNOLD ASOLANDO: INAPPREHENSIVENESS by ROBERT BROWNING |