To J. D. H.

Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)



(Killed at Surrey C. H., October, 1866.)

     .    .    .    .    .

Dear friend, forgive a wild lament
 Insanely following thy flight.
I would not cumber thine ascent
 Nor drag thee back into the night;

But the great sea-winds sigh with me,
 The fair-faced stars seem wrinkled, old,
And I would that I might lie with thee
 There in the grave so cold, so cold!

Grave walls are thick, I cannot see thee,
 And the round skies are far and steep;
A-wild to quaff some cup of Lethe,
 Pain is proud and scorns to weep.

My heart breaks if it cling about thee,
 And still breaks, if far from thine.
O drear, drear death, to live without thee,
 O sad life -- to keep thee mine.

     .    .    .    .    .

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
114

Quick analysis:

Scheme X ABAB CDCD CEXE CFCF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 684
Words 124
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 4

Sidney Lanier

Sidney Lanier was a poet, writer, composer, critic, professor of literature at Johns Hopkins and first flutist with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in Baltiimore. He wrote the Centennial cantata for the opening ceremony of the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. more…

All Sidney Lanier poems | Sidney Lanier Books

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