A Last Word



Let us go hence: the night is now at hand;
      The day is overworn, the birds all flown;
      And we have reaped the crops the gods have sown;
  Despair and death; deep darkness o'er the land,
  Broods like an owl; we cannot understand
      Laughter or tears, for we have only known
      Surpassing vanity: vain things alone
  Have driven our perverse and aimless band.

  Let us go hence, somewhither strange and cold,
     To Hollow Lands where just men and unjust
  Find end of labour, where's rest for the old,
     Freedom to all from love and fear and lust.
  Twine our torn hands! O pray the earth enfold
     Our life-sick hearts and turn them into dust.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 13, 2023

35 sec read
80

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBA CDCDCD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 661
Words 116
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6

Ernest Christopher Dowson

Ernest Christopher Dowson was born in 1867 at Lea in Kent England he was an English poet novelist and writer of short stories associated with the Decadent movement Most of his life was spent in France more…

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    "A Last Word" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/12761/a-last-word>.

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