Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OLD MEN DIE HARD, by NICHOLAS LLOYD INGRAHAM First Line: Old men die hard! No calm and easy breath Last Line: "they'll even say, ""it's best!"" . . . And journey on." Subject(s): Old Age | ||||||||
Old men die hard! No calm and easy breath Lets them go silently across the bar; Their hearts thump loud upon the walls of death Before the watchman swings those gates ajar. So frail of limb and bent with toil of years, Their faint voice whispers to an empty sky. Though brave in life they're now consumed with fears -- Too weak to live, and yet afraid to die! They linger on, gasping, delirious, Mumbling and picking at the very air. Their thoughts may be: now who will bury us? For no one cares! No, no one has a share Of love for us. Ah, when at last we're gone They'll even say, "It's best!" . . . and journey on. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AT EIGHTY I CHANGE MY VIEW by DAVID IGNATOW FAWN'S FOSTER-MOTHER by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE DEER LAY DOWN THEIR BONES by ROBINSON JEFFERS OLD BLACK MEN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A WINTER ODE TO THE OLD MEN OF LUMMUS PARK, / MIAMI, FLORIDA by DONALD JUSTICE AFTER A LINE BY JOHN PEALE BISHOP by DONALD JUSTICE TO HER BODY, AGAINST TIME by ROBERT KELLY SONG FROM A COUNTRY FAIR by LEONIE ADAMS |
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