Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LAST PORTAGE, by WILSON PUGSLEY MACDONALD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LAST PORTAGE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Age shall never come near my soul
Last Line: The lord of life commanding.
Subject(s): Future Life; Retribution; Eternity; After Life


AGE shall never come near my soul,
With his bent form and his dim eye
And his beard of yellow flowing;
Young as the ancient seas that roll
I shall go to my valiant goal,
Whether a blue or a grim sky
Waits for my hour of going.
Sandalled with loam
And helmed with sun
I'll turn home
When my day is done:
The last hill won shall hear me sing
A song as bold as an eagle's wing --
A song that dares
A world of cares
And the tempests 'round me blowing.

The youngest thing in a youthful world
Is a young soul in an old heart;
Full statured at the ending.
Through the flaming years is my spirit hurled --
A homing stone in an alien world,
That leaps to God like a flung dart
Back from His love's own sending.
To-night the veins
Of the world are white,
For her blood now drains
At the door of night:
I warm my sight at the painted cloud,
My heart beats strong and the wind beats loud --
And here outrolled
Are caldrons of gold,
And all for my pleasant spending.

As the stars go out so let me go
With a quick leap and a clear light
And a joyous understanding --
My form erect in the driving snow
And the winds that over the borders blow,
Whether by day or by drear night
I make my lonely landing.
You shall not know
That I am old
By word of woe
Or hands grown cold;
But swift and bold, as when a boy,
I'll make the Last Portage with joy --
And I'll find there
White-robed and fair
The Lord of Life commanding.




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