Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE NIGHT BIRD, by CARROLL RYAN Poet's Biography First Line: Down where the cedars are bending Last Line: "and sorrow is not eternal." Alternate Author Name(s): Ryan, William Thomas Carroll Subject(s): Birds; Death; Grief; Love - Loss Of; Solitude; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Loneliness | ||||||||
Down where the cedars are bending, Down by the side of the river, Down where the waters are wending Their way to the ocean forever, One night I heard A lonely bird Singing, Oh! so sadly singing. There was such pain In its wild strain, So plaintive and so ringing I paused to listen and methought The sounds were into meaning wrought, While faint and low As sobs of woe, The lone bird kept repeating The strange refrain Of its wild strain, Where crowded shadows meeting Made that solitary grove Like to a grave of love. "Rolled, rolled in the greedy mould That taketh and nothing giveth, Where, where in a dumb despair No hope of the future liveth, Lies, lies with o'ershaded eyes, My love with her love unspoken, While, while thro' a world of guile I wander alone, heart-broken. Strong, strong is the giant wrong, And he mates with a demon cruel; Higher, higher be buildeth a fire, And human hearts are the fuel. "Bright, bright in the morning light Beauty and love came flying. Laid, laid in deathly shade, Ere eve they were crushed and dying. Woe! woe! against all below That liveth and loveth is written. Life, life is a bitter strife Where the best are the soonest smitten. Here, here on this hapless sphere, All that are beautiful perish. Hope, hope hath no wider scope Than faint recollections we cherish. Earth, earth had its hour of mirth, But woe is an old, old story. Fast, fast in the voiceless past Fleeth our dreams of glory!" "Oh, hush! unhappy thing," I cried, "Tho' fate has left thee naught beside, Hast thou not faith and duty? What matters the loss of a toy of clay, The perishing birth of a perishing day, Tho' it were a thing of beauty? Can death destroy The lasting joy That springs from hope immortal? Can grieving bring Thee back the thing That has fled beyond life's portal? Still, still from the grave you fill Cometh a voice supernal Trust, trust in God! He is just, And sorrow is not eternal." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN ABEYANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV IN A VACANT HOUSE by PHILIP LEVINE SUNDAY ALONE IN A FIFTH FLOOR APARTMENT, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS by WILLIAM MATTHEWS SILENCE LIKE COOL SAND by PAT MORA |
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