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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BALLAD OF THE OUTER LIFE, by HUGO VON HOFMANNSTHAL Poet's Biography First Line: And children with deep eyes grow up and stray Last Line: Like heavy honey from the honeycomb. Subject(s): Death; Life; Mortality; Dead, The | |||
And children with deep eyes grow up and stray All innocent--lo, they grow up and die, And every man is bent upon his way. And bitter fruits will sweeten by and by, And, like dead birds, will fall into the night, And then decay as on the ground they lie. The wind blows evermore in wayward flight, And ever many words we say and hear, Feel weariness of limb or young delight. And streets run through the grass, and far and near Are gloomy pools and trees, and torches burn. Some places threaten, some are deathlike, sere ... Why are these things diverse--ah, can we learn? And are there many more than we can say? Why do we tremble, laugh and weep in turn? Of what avail is all, and why this play? For we are men, and lonely evermore, And wandering seek no goal upon the way. What profits all this seeing while we roam? And yet, how much he says who utters "night"! For from this word deep grief and meaning pour Like heavy honey from the honeycomb. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND A VENETIAN NIGHT by HUGO VON HOFMANNSTHAL |
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