Death poems
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Give Ear Unto The Gentle Lay
© Paul Verlaine
Give ear unto the gentle lay
That's only sad that it may please;
It is discreet, and light it is:
A whiff of wind o'er buds in May.
On Board The '76
© James Russell Lowell
Our ship lay tumbling in an angry sea,
Her rudder gone, her mainmast o'er the side;
Her scuppers, from the waves' clutch staggering free,
Trailed threads of priceless crimson through the tide;
Sails, shrouds, and spars with pirate cannon torn,
We lay, awaiting morn.
Anhelli - Chapter 4
© Juliusz Slowacki
Then, when they had taken off the coffin lids, Anhelli shuddered,
seeing that the dead were still in chains, and he said :
"Shaman, lo I am afraid lest these martyrs may never rise from the dead.
Storm
© Madison Julius Cawein
I looked into the night and saw
GOD writing with tumultuous flame
Upon the thunder's front of awe,--
As on sonorous brass,--the Law,
Terrific, of HIS judgement name.
T'is So Much Joy
© Emily Dickinson
T is so much joy! T is so much joy!
If I should fail, what poverty!
And yet, as poor as I
Have ventured all upon a throw;
Have gained! Yes! Hesitated so
This side the victory!
Vision of Columbus Book 2
© Joel Barlow
High o'er the changing scene, as thus he gazed,
The indulgent Power his arm sublimely raised;
The Funeral
© Letitia Elizabeth Landon
MARK you not yon sad procession;
'Mid the ruin'd abbey's gloom,
Hastening to the worm's possession,
To the dark and silent tomb!
Exile
© Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall
I chose the place where I would rest
When death should come to claim me,
With the red-rose roots to wrap my breast
And a quiet stone to name me.
The Lady Of La Garaye - Part IV
© Caroline Norton
Not vacant in the day of which I write!
Then rose thy pillared columns fair and white;
Then floated out the odorous pleasant scent
Of cultured shrubs and flowers together blent,
And o'er the trim-kept gravel's tawny hue
Warm fell the shadows and the brightness too.
Perfect Union
© Mathilde Blind
Then, as its incandescent bulk
Sank slowly, like the foundering hulk
Of some lone burning ship at sea,
His life set with it--bright as brief--
In that invincible belief
Of Man's august supremacy.
Sonnet LXXIX: The Monochord
© Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Is it this sky's vast vault or ocean's sound
That is Life's self and draws my life from me,
Sonnet LXV: Known in Vain
© Dante Gabriel Rossetti
As two whose love, first foolish, widening scope,
Knows suddenly, to music high and soft,
From Mount Gerizzim
© John Bunyan
Besides what I said of the Four Last Things,
And of the weal and woe that from them springs;
The Heroic Enthusiasts - Part The Second =Fifth Dialogue=.
© Giordano Bruno
Of those, oh gentle Dames, who with closed urn,
Present themselves, whose hearts are pierced
Not for a fault by nature caused,
But through a cruel fate,
That in a living death,
Does hold them fast, we each and all are blind.
Epigrams
© William Watson
'Tis human fortune's happiest height to be
A spirit melodious, lucid, poised, and whole;
Second in order of felicity
I hold it, to have walk'd with such a soul.
Cassandra
© George Meredith
Captive on a foreign shore,
Far from Ilion's hoary wave,
Agamemnon's bridal slave
Speaks Futurity no more:
Death is busy with her grave.
The Death Of Winter
© George Meredith
When April with her wild blue eye
Comes dancing over the grass,
Fredericksburg
© Thomas Bailey Aldrich
The increasing moonlight drifts across my bed,
And on the churchyard by the road, I know
The Borough. Letter XVI: Inhabitants Of The Alms-House. Benlow
© George Crabbe
SEE! yonder badgeman with that glowing face,
A meteor shining in this sober place!
Epitaph
© John Kenyon
Riches I had! they faded from my view
And troops of friends! but they deceived me too
And fame! it came and wenta very breath;
While faith stood firm, and soothed the hour of death.
