Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ALL SOUL'S DAY, by WILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ALL SOUL'S DAY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Quiet with amber light
Last Line: Doth courage and assurance bring.
Subject(s): All Souls' Day; Death; Soul; Tears; Dead, The


Quiet with amber light
The pale enfolding afternoon;
In sleep the slow leaves fall;
Tranquil as misting tears or swoon,
The pendent blue that bears
No cloud except the daylight moon.

Opal, a-drowse, and vast,
The river takes its southward way;
And southwards sweep the birds,
Swift and mysterious and grey. . . .
Do so the gusty dead
Wing the warm air in troops to-day?

Surely this peacefulness
Of feathered fields of golden-rod,
The wistful, songless trees,
And asters clouding from the sod,
Them, homing, lure from out
The bleak infinitudes of God.

Oh, surely all the south
Our prayers and dear remembrance make
Calls from the cold, blue tides
Their wings to-day, and they forsake
Their solemn ways for us,
Remembering death and all the ache.

And thou, so lately one --
Not all the new adventuring
In starry realms can hold
Thee from return. To-day thy wing,
Pausing above my heart,
Doth courage and assurance bring.





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