The Great Misgiving

________________________________________________
Title:     The Great Misgiving
Author: William Watson [More Titles by Watson]

"Not ours," say some, "the thought of death to dread;
Asking no heaven, we fear no fabled hell:
Life is a feast, and we have banqueted--
Shall not the worms as well?

"The after-silence, when the feast is o'er,
And void the places where the minstrels stood,
Differs in nought from what hath been before,
And is nor ill nor good."

Ah, but the Apparition--the dumb sign--
The beckoning finger bidding me forego
The fellowship, the converse, and the wine,
The songs, the festal glow!

And ah, to know not, while with friends I sit,
And while the purple joy is passed about,
Whether 'tis ampler day divinelier lit
Or homeless night without;

And whether, stepping forth, my soul shall see
New prospects, or fall sheer--a blinded thing!
_There_ is, O grave, thy hourly victory,
And there, O death, thy sting.

[The end]
William Watson's poem: Great Misgiving

________________________________________________



GO TO TOP OF SCREEN