For all those we have lost...

[sybylla]

Dirge Without Music

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

~Edna St. Vincent Millay~

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I just love this poem...

It is so very appropriate...

Thank you!

[Prometheus Bound]

2. Beautiful poem

Heartbreaking when you think back to all the people you have known or would like to have known to whom this applies.

[Cavallo]

3. I think this applies to everybody

But we are alive and should embrace life, even though everyone we care about will eventually be in the grave.

Actually, now a days with climate change we have to wonder what our planet will be like in 20 years and what it will be like before we even hit the grave. Since the atmosphere gets more unstable as it gets hotter I suspect we'll be seeing a lot worse than scientist predict - ie more of what we get now. Nope more of way worse than what we get now.

I like how Edna St. Vincent isn't resigned. We shouldn't be either but think how crushing defeat is when you have all that hope for this place. And I mean, the election, the climate, countries (Syria etc.) and humanity.

Thanks for a poem that isn't doom and gloom at the end because he chooses to not be resigned.