|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WORDS OF PARTING, by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON Poet's Biography First Line: The words of parting in our english tongue Last Line: Farewell, -- our very souls are in that cry! Subject(s): Farewell; Language; Life; Love; Soul; Tears; Parting; Words; Vocabulary | |||
THE words of parting in our English tongue Are heavy-fraught with tenderness and tears: We speak them first when life and love are young, And then repeat them all the after years: Good-by, Farewell, over and over again, Old words of parting and of hidden pain! Good-by, we call, and wave uncertain hands, Farewell, and wonder shall we find some day The friend who goes far forth to other lands, The more-than-friend, whose steps must turn away. Oh, the sweet kindnesses our tongues would tell, Yet we can only say, Good-by, Farewell. Sometimes the words seem light, and lips that smile Do utter them, where jest and song are free; Yet these same jesters, in a little while, May speak their burden slow and solemnly: Farewell, Good-by, the revel now is done, We weep alone before the morrow's sun. We build us homes, we strive for happiness, So eager is our clinging and so sweet! We lift strong barriers against distress, But our Forevers are so frail, so fleet. Good-by, Farewell, we say it, soon or late; They are the syllables that spell our Fate. The words of parting in our English speech Are magical with meanings left unsaid; Earth-warm they are, yet have a heavenly reach, They sound above the living and the dead: You hear our heart-beats in a brief Good-by; Farewell, -- our very souls are in that cry! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOWYOUBEENS' by TERRANCE HAYES MY LIFE: REASON LOOKS FOR TWO, THEN ARRANGES IT FROM THERE by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: THE BEST WORDS by LYN HEJINIAN WRITING IS AN AID TO MEMORY: 17 by LYN HEJINIAN CANADA IN ENGLISH by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA THERE IS NO WORD by TONY HOAGLAND CONSIDERED SPEECH by JOHN HOLLANDER AND MOST OF ALL, I WANNA THANK ?Ǫ by JOHN HOLLANDER BLACK SHEEP by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |
|