MEASURES of oil for others, Oil and red wine, Lips laugh and drink, but never Are the lips mine. Worlds at the feet of others, Power gods have known, Hearts for the favoured round me Mine beats, alone. Fame offering to others Chaplets of bays, I with no crown of laurels, Only grey days. Sweet human love for others, Deep as the sea, God-sent unto my neighbour— But not to me. Sometime I'll wrest from others More than all this, I shall demand from Heaven Far sweeter bliss. What profit then to others, Laughter and wine? I'll have what most they covet— Death, will be mine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SONG OF COURAGE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SAVORING THE PAST by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON JULY IN GEORGY by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ON A PALMETTO by SIDNEY LANIER SLEEPING TOGETHER by KATHERINE MANSFIELD SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: BARNEY HAINSFEATHER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |