My Virtual Reading Room

I Accept

I shall go out as all men go,
Spent flickers in a mighty wind,
Then I shall know, as all must know,
What lies the great gray veil behind.

There may be nothing but a deep
And timeless void without a name
Where no sun hangs, no dead stars sleep,
And there is neither night nor flame.

There may be meadows there and hills,
Mountains and plains and winds that blow,
And flowers bending over rills
Springing from an eternal snow.

There may be oceans white with foam
And great tall ships for hungry men
Who called our little salt seas home
And burn to launch their keels again.

There may be voices I have known,
Cool fingers that have touched my hair.
There may be hearts that were my own,--
Love may abide forever there.

Who knows? Who needs to understand
If there be shadows there, or more,
To live as though a pleasant land
Lay just beyond an open door?

(Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer)