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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONGS OF AN EMPTY HOUSE, by MARGUERITE WILKINSON Poet's Biography First Line: Before I die I may be great Last Line: "I am the end." | |||
Vista Before I die I may be great, The chanting guest of kings, A queen in wonderlands of song Where every blossom sings. I may put on a golden gown And walk in sunny light, Carrying in my hair the day, And in my eyes the night. It may be men will honor me -- The wistful ones and wise, Who know the ruth of victory, The joy of sacrifice. I may be rich, I may be gay, But all the crowns grow old -- The laurel withers and the bay And dully rusts the gold. Before I die I may break bread With many queens and kings -- Oh, take the golden gown away, For there are other things -- And I shall miss the love of babes With flesh of rose and pearl, The dewy eyes, the budded lips -- A boy, a little girl. The End My father got me strong and straight and slim, And I give thanks to him; My mother bore me glad and sound and sweet, -- I kiss her feet. But now, with me, their generation fails, And nevermore avails To cast through me the ancient mould again, Such women and men. I have no son, whose life of flesh and fire Sprang from my splendid sire, No daughter for whose soul my mother's flesh Wrought raiment fresh. Life's venerable rhythms like a flood Beat in my brain and blood, Crying from all the generations past, "Is this the last?" And I make answer to my haughty dead, Who made me, heart and head, "Even the sunbeams falter, flicker and bend -- I am the end." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHRIST AND THE COMMON DAY by MARGUERITE WILKINSON GUILTY by MARGUERITE WILKINSON HIS CROSS by MARGUERITE WILKINSON PAWNBROKERS by MARGUERITE WILKINSON THE END by MARGUERITE WILKINSON THE MOUNTAIN LILAC by MARGUERITE WILKINSON THE NEW CITY by MARGUERITE WILKINSON TO THE SUMMER SUN (CORONADO) by MARGUERITE WILKINSON WAKING THOUGHT by MARGUERITE WILKINSON |
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