You, perhaps yet unborn, that some day shall read these rhymes -- Know that I was a man even as yourself, and from the womb Issued in nakedness, also that I suffered the doom Common to all men, and that I pondered these things many times; And ceased. So shall you cease: brief are the days and few. I have made these songs that we for a moment might partake Of the one dream. This is my spirit offered for your sake. Eat, drink; this is my spirit given for you. It is night, and we are alone together; your head Bends over the open book, your feeding eyes devour The substance of my dream. O sacred hour That makes us one -- you, fleeting, and I, already fled! Here is my love, here is my sorrow, my heart's rage, Poured out for you. What tenderness brooding above you Hallows these songs! I have made them all for you. I love you. What love, what longing, my brother, speaks to you from this page! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE INEBRIATE by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM THE LOST LEADER by ROBERT BROWNING BINSEY POPLARS (FELLED 1879) by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS VERLAINE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE DAUGHTERS OF ATLAS by AESCHYLUS AT PARTING by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS I SHALL HAVE PEACE AGAIN (WRITTEN AFTER READING 'RIDERS TO THE SEA' by FLORA LOUISE BAILEY |