Reptiles And Roses
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
So crystal clear it is to me
That when I die I cease to be,
All else seems sheer stupidity.
All promises of Paradise
Are wishful thinking, preacher's lies,
Dogmatic dust flung in our eyes.
Yea, life's immortal, swift it flows
Alike in reptile and in rose,
But as it comes, so too it goes.
Dead roses will not bloom again;
The lifeless lizard writhes in vain;
Cups shattered will not hold champagne.
Our breath is brief, and being so
Let's make our heaven here below,
And lavish kindness as we go.
For when dour Death shall close the door
There will be darkness evermore;
So let us kneel in prayer before
Each day and let our duty be
To fight that mankind may be free . . .
There is our Immortality.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 59 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AAA XBB CCC XDD EEE FFF AAA |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 686 |
Words | 132 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
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"Reptiles And Roses" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32394/reptiles-and-roses>.
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