Nos Immortales

Stephen Vincent Benet

1898 · Bethlehem   –   1943 · New York City


Perhaps we go with wind and cloud and sun,
Into the free companionship of air;
Perhaps with sunsets when the day is done,
All's one to me -- I do not greatly care;
So long as there are brown hills -- and a tree
Like a mad prophet in a land of dearth --
And I can lie and hear eternally
The vast monotonous breathing of the earth.

I have known hours, slow and golden-glowing,
Lovely with laughter and suffused with light,
O Lord, in such a time appoint my going,
When the hands clench, and the cold face grows white,
And the spark dies within the feeble brain,
Spilling its star-dust back to dust again.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
51

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFGG
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 610
Words 118
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6

Stephen Vincent Benet

Stephen Vincent Benét was an American author, poet, short story writer, and novelist. more…

All Stephen Vincent Benet poems | Stephen Vincent Benet Books

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