Let mine not be that saddest fate of all To live beyond my greater self; to see My faculties decaying, as the tree Stands stark and helpless while its green leaves fall. Let me hear rather the imperious call, Which all men dread, in my glad morning time, And follow death ere I have reached my prime, Or drunk the strengthening cordial of life's gall. The lightning's stroke or the fierce tempest blast Which fells the green tree to the earth to-day Is kinder than the calm that lets it last, Unhappy witness of its own decay. May no man ever look on me and say, "She lives, but all her usefulness is past." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PUTTIN' THE BABY AWAY by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE LAY OF THE LABOURER by THOMAS HOOD THE PATRIOTIC MERCHANT PRINCE by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS BACCHANALIA; OR, THE NEW AGE by MATTHEW ARNOLD ALEXANDER VI DINES WITH THE CARDINAL OF CAPUA by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET IN A LETTER TO A.R.C. ON HER WISHING TO BE CALLED ANNA by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS |