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PARADISE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Where the luminous deep skies
Last Line: She wrote only: rest in peace.
Subject(s): Heaven; Paradise


Where the luminous deep skies
Kindle passion's sullen fire,
Heaven is to feed desire
On a Houri's lips and eyes.

But where duty's iron rod
Terrifies a sterile land,
'Tis to tremble, harp in hand,
Singing to a tyrant God.

And where in a cloistered space
Pines love's pale transplanted flower,
'Tis to bloom one blessed hour
In the sunlight of love's face.

But the days of splendid lust
Are the fleeting summer days;
Grievous grows Jehovah's praise;
And the root of love is dust.

First we hope and then we know:
Old and sad and ever strange,
In unprofitable change
Thus the tide must ebb and flow.

Folly was not meant to cease,
Nor the hope calm wisdom gave
When upon a mortal's grave
She wrote only: Rest in peace.





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