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1 Tell me thou safest End of all our Woe,
2 Why wretched Mortals do avoid thee so:
3 Thou gentle drier o' th' afflicted Tears,
4 Thou noble ender of the Cowards Fears;
5 Thou sweet Repose to Lovers sad dispaire,
6 Thou Calm t' Ambitions rough Tempstuous Care.
7 If in regard of Bliss thou wert a Curse,
8 And then the Joys of Paradise art worse;
9 Yet after Man from his first Station fell,
10 And God fromEden Adam did expel,
11 Thou wert no more an Evil, but Relief;
12 The Balm and Cure to ev'ry Humane Grief:
13 Through thee (what Man had forfeited before)
14 He now enjoys, and ne'r can loose it more.
15 No subtile Serpents in the Grave betray,
16 Worms on the Body there, not Soul do prey;
17 No Vice there Tempts, no Terrors there afright,
18 No Coz'ning Sin affords a false delight:
19 No vain Contentions do that Peace annoy,
20 No feirce Alarms break the lasting Joy.
22 Such real Good as Life can never know;
23 Come when thou wilt, in thy afrighting'st Dress,
24 Thy Shape shall never make thy Welcome less.
25 Thou mayst to Joy, but ne'er to Fear give Birth,
26 Thou Best, as well as Certain'st thing on Earth.
27 Fly thee? May Travellers then fly their Rest,
28 And hungry Infants fly the profer'd Brest.
29 No, those that faint and tremble at thy Name,
30 Fly from their Good on a mistaken Fame.
31 Thus Childish fear didIsrael of old
32 From Plenty and the Promis'd Land with-hold;
33 They fancy'd Giants, and refus'd to go,
34 When Canaan did with Milk and Honey flow.
Anne Killigrew
Read poems about / on: fear, joy, evil, grief, birth, sad, peace, death, god
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Click here to write your comments about this poem (On Death by Anne Killigrew)
Michael Pruchnicki (9/25/2008 4:46:00 PM)
Almost an echo of John Donne's 'Death Be Not Proud' Anne Killigrew's poem opens with a question that must have occurred to most of us at one time or another - Why do we fear Death? As Donne responded, after all is said and done, Death offers a release from mortal pain and fear. As the poet declaims in lines 11-12, death is a relief from our earthly ailments, physical, moral and psychological, a release from all the discontents and fears that we mortals are subject to.
When we are dead and buried, none of the temptations that plague human life have any effect whatsoever! It seems to me a wise and perceptive reading of what the end of life means to most serious people. We who have survived the rigors of life on a mortal plane may enjoy in the afterlife the milk and honey we were denied through no fault of our own in the world of fleshly pleasure. Those who fear death and flee from its comforts are like the Israelites who fell short of reaching the promised land! Those who imagine monsters and giants in the afterlife will not reach the shores of Canaan! |
vgdbs hdhfd (9/25/2008 6:10:00 AM)
wow! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! that is great luv it soooo much omg its sooo good! ! ! |
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