The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley [i.e. J. B. L. Warren] |
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THE TOMB: AN ALLEGORY |
 | The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley |  |
THE TOMB: AN ALLEGORY
I saw a woman with an infant stand
Outside the portal of a vaulted tomb,
And on its door were written words of doom,
And a vast silence deepened o'er the land.
Then, turning to that child, she gave command
To kneel beside her at the gate of gloom,
And lay before that charnel wreaths of bloom,
And press those doors of death with kisses bland.
Outside the portal of a vaulted tomb,
And on its door were written words of doom,
And a vast silence deepened o'er the land.
Then, turning to that child, she gave command
To kneel beside her at the gate of gloom,
And lay before that charnel wreaths of bloom,
And press those doors of death with kisses bland.
“I am the life that gave him to the grave:
And this poor child, the pledge of our despair,
On whom a father's smile might never dwell—
Thou hero, whom immortals could not save,
Tho' Love was sweet and Time was very fair,
Thine be the lilies of the asphodel.”
And this poor child, the pledge of our despair,
On whom a father's smile might never dwell—
Thou hero, whom immortals could not save,
Tho' Love was sweet and Time was very fair,
Thine be the lilies of the asphodel.”
| The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley | |