Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PUT OUT THE LIGHT by JOHN COWPER POWYS

First Line: PUT OUT THE LIGHT; - AND THEN
Last Line: TO EARTH OR SEA OR SKY.
Subject(s): BEAUTY; DEATH; LIGHT; PAIN; WIND; DEAD, THE; SUFFERING; MISERY;
"Put out the light; -- and then
Put out the light!"
O loss to mortal men
Of all delight!
You who were so sun-fair
Your beauty warmed the air,
You who were so care-free
You healed all misery,
Must cry with ghosts upon the wind
Or be in frozen earth confined.
The fairest things are the briefest things;
And the sweetest soonest die;
No sign, no trace, no memory clings
To earth or sea or sky.



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