|
|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A LATE PASSER, by WILLIAM WILKINS First Line: Down the stormy stream Last Line: It cannot be very far to the grave. | |||
DOWN the stormy stream, Down the stream to the sea. Broken -- lost like a dream, All that was dear to me. Would God my work in the world were done, And I forgotten and dead and gone. Plunge of the water beneath As of a soul to its doom; Weary, aweary am I of breath, Ah! for the rest of the tomb. The pine leans over the raging river, So -- my heart longs to be still for ever. Hangs not the parapet clear O'er the darkness that gurgles below? Ah! to blot out year upon year In the black pool's eddying flow. But I would not be false for the ease of the dead, What hides the Future that I can dread? Have I any hope -- any faith? Have I anything left to lose? -- Have I any trust but in Death, Waited for -- ah! God knows! For Death is as God in mercy and might, And shall not the Judge of the earth do right? Down the stormy stream, Out on the infinite sea, Deep sleep after this feverish dream, With all that is dear to me. So dying hourly, drag on. Be brave, It cannot be very far to the grave. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN THE ENGINE-SHED by WILLIAM WILKINS THE IMPASSABLE by WILLIAM WILKINS TO JOHN BROWN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A LIFE-LESSON by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY INTRODUCTORY VERSES TO MARIA HACK by BERNARD BARTON THE RIVER-GOD'S SONG by FRANCIS BEAUMONT ON A FAN by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS |
| |