I heard the dogs howl in the moonlight night;
I went to the window to see the sight;
All the Dead that ever I knew
Going one by one and two by two.
On they pass'd, and on they pass'd;
Townsfellows all, from first to last;
Born in the moonlight of the lane,
Quench'd in the heavy shadow again.
Schoolmates, marching as when they play'd
At soldiers once - but now more staid;
Those were the strangest sight to me
Who were drown'd, I knew, in the awful sea.
Straight and handsome folk, bent and weak, too;
Some that I loved, and gasp'd to speak to;
Some but a day in their churchyard bed;
Some that I had not known were dead.
A long, long crowd - where each seem'd lonely,
Yet of them all there was one, one only,
Raised a head or look'd my way;
She linger'd a moment - she might not stay.
How long since I saw that fair pale face!
Ah! Mother dear! might I only place
My head on thy breast, a moment to rest,
While thy hand on my tearful cheek were prest!
On, on, a moving bridge they made
Across the moon-stream, from shade to shade,
Young and old, women and men;
Many long-forgot, but remembered then,
And first there came a bitter laughter;
A sound of tears a moment after;
And then a music so lofty and gay,
That eve morning, day by day,
I strive to recall it if I may.
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Comments
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I love the rhythm of this poem when read out loud. Its quite sad though, his remeberence of the dead parading past his conciseness, a grim parade it would be rather than happy. It seems that the moon's light bears these people, as at night is the only time he can see them. The final lines seem to me like how people greive, bitter laughter, tears and then rejoicing for their life, and that we should recall this "lofty" sadness/happiness....i like it, hard to write about though...
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Dreamlike in its presentation, the dead characters parade before our mental eyes and the passing of the mother, who looks with tender longing on her son, is its saddest line, But comfort is applied with the last phrase describing the "lofty and gay music".
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This sounds like a dream, he was feeling lonely and probably fogotten, he needed to remember something, someone who would remember him, I love the way that this poem flows, it has the aura of a sad and depressive poem, but it is actually a dream, a self healing dream............This is my interpretation anyway, probably all wrong.........
Sanity.
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This is a sad poem. Remembering all the people he used to know, that are now dead. I like the way it reads, especially out loud.
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