Death poems
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The Soudanese
© William Watson
They wrong'd not us, nor sought 'gainst us to wage
The bitter battle. On their God they cried
Upon Perusing The Forgoing Epistle Thirty Years After Its Composition
© William Wordsworth
SOON did he Almighty Giver of all rest
Take those dear young Ones to a fearless nest;
And in Death's arms has long reposed the Friend
For whom this simple Register was penned.
Dramatic Fragment
© Paul Hamilton Hayne
WE might have been! ah, yes! we might have been
Among the laurelled noblemen of thought,
Who lift their species with them as they climb
To deathless empire in the realm of gods;
The Death Knell Is Ringing
© Percy Bysshe Shelley
The death knell is ringing
The raven is singing
The earth worm is creeping
The mourners are weeping
Ding dong, bell--
Barclay Of Ury
© John Greenleaf Whittier
Up the streets of Aberdeen,
By the kirk and college green,
Rode the Laird of Ury;
Close behind him, close beside,
Foul of mouth and evil-eyed,
Pressed the mob in fury.
An Autograph
© John Greenleaf Whittier
I write my name as one,
On sands by waves o'errun
Or winter's frosted pane,
Traces a record vain.
A Word for the Hour
© John Greenleaf Whittier
The firmament breaks up. In black eclipse
Light after light goes out. One evil star,
Luridly glaring through the smoke of war,
As in the dream of the Apocalypse,
from Jubilate Agno, Fragment B, lines 695-768
© Christopher Smart
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
Jubilate Agno: Fragment B, Part 4
© Christopher Smart
Tho' toad I am the object of man's hate.
Yet better am I than a reprobate. who has the worst of prospects.
For there are stones, whose constituent particles are little toads.
Jubilate Agno: Fragment B, Part 3
© Christopher Smart
For a Man is to be looked upon in that which he excells as on a prospect.
For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry (excerpt, Jubilate Agno)
© Christopher Smart
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.
For he is the servant of the Living God duly and daily serving him.
For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.
For this is done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.
On Reading William Watson's Sonnet Entitled The Purple East
© Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Restless the Northern Bear amid his snows
Crouched by the Neva; menacing is France,
Psalm XXIII
© Christopher Smart
The shepherd Christ from heav'n arriv'd,
My flesh and spirit feeds;
I shall not therefore be depriv'd
Of all my nature needs.
Resignation
© Johann Christoph Friedrich Von Schiller
Yes! even I was in Arcadia born,
And, in mine infant ears,
A vow of rapture was by Nature sworn;-
Yes! even I was in Arcadia born,
And yet my short spring gave me only-tears!
Jubilate Agno: Fragment B, Part 1
© Christopher Smart
Let Elizur rejoice with the Partridge, who is a prisoner of state and is proud of his keepers.
Anticipation
© Thomas Hood
"Coming events cast their shadow before."
I had a vision in the summer light
A Song To David
© Christopher Smart
I
O THOU, that sit'st upon a throne,
With harp of high majestic tone,
To praise the King of kings;
Lord William
© Robert Southey
No eye beheld when William plunged
Young Edmund in the stream,
No human ear but William's heard
Young Edmund's drowning scream.
After Long Drought
© Mark van Doren
The whole world dreamed of this, and has it now.
Nor was the waking easy. The dull root
Is jealous of its death; the sleepy brow
Smiles in its slumber; and a heart can fear
The very flood it longed for, roaring near.
The spirit best remembers being mute.
