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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  750. Requiescat

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Matthew Arnold. 1822–1888

750. Requiescat

STREW on her roses, roses, 
  And never a spray of yew. 
In quiet she reposes: 
  Ah! would that I did too. 
 
Her mirth the world required:         5
  She bathed it in smiles of glee. 
But her heart was tired, tired, 
  And now they let her be. 
 
Her life was turning, turning, 
  In mazes of heat and sound.  10
But for peace her soul was yearning, 
  And now peace laps her round. 
 
Her cabin’d, ample Spirit, 
  It flutter’d and fail’d for breath. 
To-night it doth inherit  15
  The vasty hall of Death.