The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
103
DEATH
The mantle of a vast exceeding peace
Over the lonely wandering poet fell:
The noises of the worldly war did cease,
And all was well.
Over the lonely wandering poet fell:
The noises of the worldly war did cease,
And all was well.
Some understood him better, now that death
Had folded round him its embrace secure
And breathed upon him with its awful breath
Most sweet, most pure.
Had folded round him its embrace secure
And breathed upon him with its awful breath
Most sweet, most pure.
The women who had followed through wild ways
With love and longing in most tender hands
Brought him his roses and his wreath of bays
Plucked in lone lands.
With love and longing in most tender hands
Brought him his roses and his wreath of bays
Plucked in lone lands.
104
But over him fell sweet unbroken sleep
And rest divine that nought could change or mar;
One woman watched his grave with great grand deep
Gaze like a star.
And rest divine that nought could change or mar;
One woman watched his grave with great grand deep
Gaze like a star.
Nought moved her from his grave: his other queens
Sought other pleasures,—bought and sold and slept;
But still, where over him the grey stone leans,
This woman wept.
Sought other pleasures,—bought and sold and slept;
But still, where over him the grey stone leans,
This woman wept.
They found her there one summer morning dead
Beneath the solemn marriage-sealing sun,
To his live endless deathless spirit wed,—
So these were one.
Beneath the solemn marriage-sealing sun,
To his live endless deathless spirit wed,—
So these were one.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |