The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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| X. |
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 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
105
SONNET XIX
THE LAST KISS
Yes: the last kiss. For there shall come a last.—
When the whole race has dwindled, and the air
No longer serves us,—dense or over-rare;
When human history hath an endless past,
But not one future day: when tired winds cast
About for flowers, but find no flowers to wear:
When the last rose on the sparse hedge is fair:
When the whole living world's flag flies half-mast:—
When the whole race has dwindled, and the air
No longer serves us,—dense or over-rare;
When human history hath an endless past,
But not one future day: when tired winds cast
About for flowers, but find no flowers to wear:
When the last rose on the sparse hedge is fair:
When the whole living world's flag flies half-mast:—
Then there shall come a last kiss.—Shall not it,
Full of a desperate sweetness unforeseen,
Something of all past history's raptures win,—
And shall the woman's wild eyes not be lit
With stranger light than of the setting sun?
Will all life die not, when that kiss is done?
Full of a desperate sweetness unforeseen,
Something of all past history's raptures win,—
And shall the woman's wild eyes not be lit
With stranger light than of the setting sun?
Will all life die not, when that kiss is done?
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |