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Dylan Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953 / Swansea / Wales)
And Death Shall Have No Dominion
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead man naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.
Read poems about / on: flower, death, sea, faith, sun, rain, moon, lost, wind, star, rose, running
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Though lovers be lost love shall not.
Even when people change and their old self dies, we still love
And remain hopeful that someday their old self is resurrected
Although that is probably wishful thinking for some who have
Consumed by their addiction such as to alcohol drugs power wealth or money.
Though I continue to love, I no longer wait however.
I believe such illness has struck them down to the pit of oblivion
Never to be recovered again.
'Though lovers BE lost...' is perfectly fine English. It' a subjunctive. Like 'If I WERE you'.
Alan Whitworth
I agree Dylan the heroic acts of mankind will live on even after death strikes his heavy hand...even though my mom has gone with death, my love for her has not...excellent write.. :)
If you love Dylan, read my poem 'Portrait of Dylan' posted today.
@ Jamie Ross.
Have you never heard of the subjunctive? ? ? ? ? Xref “If I were a rich man” in the second conditional. I suggest you learn a bit more about the English language before slagging off one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.
Not wishing to be a party pooper, but I was asked to read out the phrase 'and death shall have no dominion over them' at my father's funeral. I looked it up in it's context within Isaiah. It comes as the endline to some of the worst exhortations to hate and violence and murder that if someone were to write it today in England they would be charged with incitement to race hate.
Never could see what people find so wonderful about the bible, myself.
I once heard an original recording of And Death Shall Have No Dominion read by Dylan Thomas himself. He was drunk most the time for his readings and this one did not disappoint...
He was born into a post revival Great Britain, although I feel he heard of the glory days of the early rain of the Welsh Revival (1904) , I gesture he never got the root of it or worse yet, rejected the substance of the root, for he went on to succumb his hurts and pains with alcohol, which is available to all, in the place of the presence of the Holy Spirit, which is given to those who obey God by believing His goodness...
It had an otherworldliness to the meter and rhyme just as when Yeats read poetry, as if it were a spell...
The truth of Revelation 21: 4 is elucidated by the Bible-hearing poet (For he heard the Bible preached for 3-4 or more hours at least every Sunday and referenced to throughout the week) ...
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Rev 21: 4) ...
Probably conjoined with the grounding truth of Romans 6: 9, Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him - meaning that since Christ as Messiah and archetechtonic example of MAN has been raised, DEATH itself has been defeated within the WORK of CHRIST'S redemption...
That should be Although lovers ARE lost. That's bad english and i would suggest you change bthe name of your poem because it sounds slightly silly
Shouldnt that be Although lovers ARE lost? Thats just bad english and now your poem has a silly name
Shouldnt that be Although lovers ARE lost? thats just bad english and now your poem has a silly name