Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LATER LIFE: A DOUBLE SONNET OF SONNETS, 26, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: This life is full of numbness and of balk
Last Line: Unveil thy face, o death who art not death.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina


This Life is full of numbness and of balk,
Of haltingness and baffled short-coming,
Of promise unfulfilled, of everything
That is puffed vanity and empty talk:
Its very bud hangs cankered on the stalk,
Its very song-bird trails a broken wing,
Its very Spring is not indeed like Spring,
But sighs like Autumn round an aimless walk.
This Life we live is dead for all its breath;
Death's self it is, set off on pilgrimage,
Travelling with tottering steps the first short stage:
The second stage is one mere desert dust
Where Death sits veiled amid creation's rust: --
Unveil thy face, O Death who art not Death.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net