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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
RESPONSES, by OTAKAR BREZINA First Line: We are curse-laden: even amid our yearnings Last Line: "they have revealed." Subject(s): Death; Grief; Solitude; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Loneliness | |||
We are curse-laden: even amid our yearnings' loftiest flight We by burden of earth are vanquished, plunged into our blood's dim night -- "Ye are potent and deathless; and in your souls where secrets abound, Suns and springtides and vintages numberless are found." In silence of cosmos, in midst of stars, that are flecked with blood as they wane, We are cut off in solitude, as by watch-fires of foes in a chain. "Armor of heavily-armed is your burden; unto contest ye Are summoned, that ye therein may set all earth-born creatures free." Upon the riven breast of the vanquished we strive to kneel. And even when we yearn to love, no love we feel, no love we feel. "Hardened are ye like fruit, unripened; but in the blaze Of a secret summer ye ripen, your breathren's embraces to praise." Gladness is sunshine beheld in a dream: on awakening it is dulled; Sorrow has thousands of eyes, and never in slumber is utterly lulled. "With myriads in secret brotherhood ye are tied And only in gladness of myriads will gladness of yours abide." To floating islands upon a furrow of fragrance we float -- We float and the islands float onward, and keep us ever remote -- "Blindfold are ye with deceit that your kingly glances wield: Islands of radiance that bloom in your souls, before you they have revealed." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN ABEYANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV IN A VACANT HOUSE by PHILIP LEVINE SUNDAY ALONE IN A FIFTH FLOOR APARTMENT, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS by WILLIAM MATTHEWS SILENCE LIKE COOL SAND by PAT MORA THE HONEY BEAR by EILEEN MYLES THE PRICE OF WOMEN by KAREN SWENSON HARRIET BEECHER STOWE by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR BY THE STATUE OF KING CHARLES AT CHARING CROSS by LIONEL PIGOT JOHNSON |
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