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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

UNSUNG by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: AS SWEET AS THE BREATH THAT GOES
Last Line: THE SONG I HAVE NEVER SUNG.
Subject(s): IMMORTALITY;
As sweet as the breath that goes
From the lips of the white rose,
As weird as the elfin lights
That glimmer of frosty nights,
As wild as the winds that tear
The curled red leaf in the air,
Is the song I have never sung.

In slumber, a hundred times
I have said the mystic rhymes,
But ere I open my eyes
This ghost of a poem flies;
Of the interfluent strains
Not even a note remains:
I know by my pulses' beat
It was something wild and sweet,
And my heart is strangely stirred
By an unremembered word!

I strive, but I strive in vain,
To recall the lost refrain.
On some miraculous day
Perhaps it will come and stay;
In some unimagined Spring
I may find my voice, and sing
The song I have never sung.



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