Famous Eternal Life Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Eternal Life poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous eternal life poems. These examples illustrate what a famous eternal life poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Friends Departed

by Henry Vaughan
 They are all gone into the world of light! 
And I alone sit ling'ring here; 
Their very memory is fair and bright, 
And my sad thoughts doth clear. 

It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,
Like stars upon some gloomy grove, 
Or those faint beams in which this hill is drest 
After the sun's remove. 

I see them walking...Read more of this...

The Book of Urizen: Chapter V

by William Blake
 1. In terrors Los shrunk from his task: 
His great hammer fell from his hand:
His fires beheld, and sickening,
Hid their strong limbs in smoke.
For with noises ruinous loud;
With hurtlings & clashings & groans 
The Immortal endur'd his chains,
Tho' bound in a deadly sleep.

2. All the myriads of Eternity:
All the wisdom & joy of life:
Roll like a sea around him,...Read more of this...

They are all Gone into the World of Light

by Henry Vaughan
 1 They are all gone into the world of light!
2 And I alone sit ling'ring here;
3 Their very memory is fair and bright,
4 And my sad thoughts doth clear.

5 It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,
6 Like stars upon some gloomy grove,
7 Or those faint beams in which this hill is drest,
8 After the sun's remove.

9 I see...Read more of this...

Hymn 35 part 2

by Isaac Watts
 Truth, sincerity, etc.

Phil. 4:8. 

Let those who bear the Christian name
Their holy vows fulfil;
The saints, the followers of the Lamb,
Are men of honor still.

True to the solemn oaths they take,
Though to their hurt they swear;
Constant and just to all they speak,
For God and angels hear.

Still with their lips their hearts agree,
Nor flatt'ring words devise;
They know the God of truth...Read more of this...

The Rose of Midnight

by Vachel Lindsay
 THE moon is now an opening flower, 
The sky a cliff of blue. 
The moon is now a silver rose; 
Her pollen is the dew.

Her pollen is the mist that swings 
Across her face of dreams: 
Her pollen is the April rain, 
Filling the April streams.

Her pollen is eternal life, 
Endless ambrosial foam. 
It feeds the swarming stars and...Read more of this...

Drink, drink this wine which gives eternal life; drink,

by Omar Khayyam
Drink, drink this wine which gives eternal life; drink,
for it is the source of youthful joy; it burns like fire,
but, like life's essence, drives away your care. Then
drink!
328...Read more of this...

Hymn 22 part 1

by Isaac Watts
 Christ the eternal life.

Rom. 9:5. 

Jesus, our Savior and our God,
Arrayed in majesty and blood,
Thou art our life; our souls in thee
Possess a full felicity.

All our immortal hopes are laid
In thee, our surety and our head;
Thy cross, thy cradle, and thy throne,
Are big with glories yet unknown.

Let atheists scoff, and Jews blaspheme
Th' eternal life and Jesus' name;
A word of...Read more of this...

The Beauty of Death XIV

by Kahlil Gibran
 Part One - The Calling


Let me sleep, for my soul is intoxicated with love and 
Let me rest, for my spirit has had its bounty of days and nights; 
Light the candles and burn the incense around my bed, and 
Scatter leaves of jasmine and roses over my body; 
Embalm my hair with frankincense and sprinkle my feet with...Read more of this...

Green Fields

by W S Merwin
 By this part of the century few are left who believe
 in the animals for they are not there in the carved parts
of them served on plates and the pleas from the slatted trucks
 are sounds of shadows that possess no future
there is still game for the pleasure of killing
 and there are pets for the children but the...Read more of this...

The Testing-Tree

by Stanley Kunitz
 1

On my way home from school
up tribal Providence Hill
past the Academy ballpark
where I could never hope to play
I scuffed in the drainage ditch
among the sodden seethe of leaves
hunting for perfect stones
rolled out of glacial time
into my pitcher’s hand;
then sprinted lickety-
split on my magic Keds
from a crouching start,
scarcely touching the ground
with my flying skin
as I poured it on
for the prize...Read more of this...

The Book of Urizen: Chapter II

by William Blake
 1. Earth was not: nor globes of attraction
The will of the Immortal expanded
Or contracted his all flexible senses.
Death was not, but eternal life sprung

2. The sound of a trumpet the heavens 
Awoke & vast clouds of blood roll'd
Round the dim rocks of Urizen, so nam'd
That solitary one in Immensity

3. Shrill the trumpet: & myriads of Eternity,
Muster around the bleak...Read more of this...

The Book of Urizen: Chapter IX

by William Blake
 1. Then the Inhabitants of those Cities:
Felt their Nerves change into Marrow
And hardening Bones began 
In swift diseases and torments,
In throbbings & shootings & grindings
Thro' all the coasts; till weaken'd
The Senses inward rush'd shrinking,
Beneath the dark net of infection. 

2. Till the shrunken eyes clouded over
Discernd not the woven hipocrisy
But the streaky slime in their heavens
Brought together by narrowing...Read more of this...

The Alchemists Petition

by Vachel Lindsay
 Thou wilt not sentence to eternal life
My soul that prays that it may sleep and sleep
Like a white statue dropped into the deep,
Covered with sand, covered with chests of gold,
And slave-bones, tossed from many a pirate hold.

But for this prayer thou wilt not bind in Hell
My soul, that shook with love for Fame and Truth—
In Such unquenched desires consumed...Read more of this...

Thoreaus Flute

by Louisa May Alcott
 We sighing said, "Our Pan is dead; 
His pipe hangs mute beside the river 
Around it wistful sunbeams quiver, 
But Music's airy voice is fled. 
Spring mourns as for untimely frost; 
The bluebird chants a requiem; 
The willow-blossom waits for him; 
The Genius of the wood is lost." 

Then from the flute, untouched by hands, 
There came a low,...Read more of this...

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