Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


GATES OF UNREMEMBRANCE by EDITH MATILDA THOMAS

First Line: COULD WE BUT GUESS, BEYOND THE GATES-ON-GATES
Last Line: WITH SHAPING HANDS!

COULD we but guess, beyond the gates-on-gates,
Who waits!
Who sowed that misty acreage, -- our own,
Unknown;
Whereof the casual sheaves our garners fill
With Good and Ill!
Could we but guess, -- we scarce would claim as ours
These gifts and powers --
But oh, ourselves in full we might forgive,
And live!
Could we but know -- past each ascending gate
Is Fate;
And nothing can we do, for there she stands
With shaping hands!



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