Alas! that men must see Love, before Death! Else they content might be With their short breath; Aye, glad, when the pale sun Showed restless day was done, And endless Rest begun. Glad, when with strong, cool hand Death clasped their own, And with a strange command Hushed every maon; Glad to have finished pain, And labor wrought in vain, Blurred by Sin's deepening stain. But Love's insistent voice Bids self to flee -- "Live that I may rejoice, Live on, for me!" So, for Love's cruel mind, Men fear this Rest to find, Nor know great Death is kind! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NOCTURNE IN A MINOR KEY by CONRAD AIKEN AFTER WRITING A POEM by DAVID IGNATOW |