Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HIS YOUTH by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

Poet Analysis

First Line: DYING? I AM NOT DYING. ARE YOU MAD?
Last Line: HUSHED HIS WILD WORDS. WELL, HAS HE FOUND HIS YOUTH?
Subject(s): DEATH; SICKNESS; YOUTH; DEAD, THE; ILLNESS;
DYING? I am not dying? Are you mad?
You think I need to ask for heavenly grace?
@3I@1 think @3you@1 are a fiend, who would be glad
To see me struggle in death's cold embrace.

"But, man, you lie! for I am strong—in truth
Stronger than I have been in years; and soon
I shall feel young again as in my youth,
My glorious youth—life's one great priceless boon.

"O youth, youth, youth! O God! that golden time,
When proud and glad I laughed the hours away,
Why, there's no sacrifice (perhaps no crime)
I'd pause at, could it make me young to-day,

"But I'm not @3old@1! I grew—just ill, somehow;
Grew stiff of limb, and weak, and dim of sight.
It was but sickness. I am better now,
Oh, vastly better, ever since last night.

"And I could weep warm floods of happy tears
To think my strength is coming back at last,
For I have dreamed of such an hour for years,
As I lay thinking of my glorious past.

"You shake your head? Why, man, if you were sane
I'd strike you to my feet, I would, in truth.
How dare you tell me that my hopes are vain?
How dare you say I have outlived my youth?

"'In heaven I may regain it'? Oh, be still!
I want no heaven but what my glad youth gave.
Its long, bright hours, its rapture and its thrill—
O youth, youth, youth! it is my @3youth@1 I crave.

"There is no heaven! There's nothing but a deep
And yawning grave from which I shrink in fear.
I am not sure of even rest or sleep;
Perhaps we lie and @3think@1 as I have here.

"Think, think, think, think, as we lie there and rot,
And hear the young above us laugh in glee.
How dare you say I'm dying! @3I am not.@1
I would curse God if such a thing could be.

"Why, see me stand! why, hear this strong, full breath—
Dare you repeat that silly, base untruth?"
A cry—a fall—the silence known as death
Hushed his wild words. Well, has he found his youth?



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