And Death Shall Have No Dominion
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men 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.
Commentary
I checked the archives for this poem and was rather surprised not to find it. I find it interesting, not only as one of that subset of poems that defy death, much like Donne’s “Death be not proud” (Poem #796) but also for the interesting form used. It’s not a villanelle or a rondeau. I’ll admit my ignorance and ask that if someone knows the name of this form I’d like to learn it.
As a recent widow I find myself remembering odd bits of poetry dealing with death. While this may sound morbid, I usually find it fairly comforting - especially such lines as “though lovers be lost, love shall not.”
Lollee