interlude post: All Things Will Die – Alfred Lord Tennyson

Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing
Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing
Over the sky.
One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating
Full merrily;
Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.

All things must die.
Spring will come never more.
Oh! vanity!
Death waits at the door.
See! our friends are all forsaking
The wine and the merrymaking.
We are called–we must go.
Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;
The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.
Oh! misery!
Hark! death is calling
While I speak to ye,
The jaw is falling,
The red cheek paling,
The strong limbs failing;
Ice with the warm blood mixing;
The eyeballs fixing.
Nine times goes the passing bell:
Ye merry souls, farewell.
The old earth
Had a birth,
As all men know,
Long ago.
And the old earth must die.
So let the warm winds range,
And the blue wave beat the shore;
For even and morn
Ye will never see
Through eternity.
All things were born.
Ye will come never more,
For all things must die.

rain

I dream of rain
I dream of freedom
I close my eyes
Take it all in
The world is my playground
I want nothing, I have it all
I know all, I am all
The luxury of time and space
The glory of the human race
The world is moving at my pace
My fears are gone, without a trace

But there are clouds in the distance
Lurking, menacing, dark
I cannot ignore them any longer
They grow, looming filling the sky
Blotting out the sun
The air grows cold, the winds pick up
I realize how alone I am
The skies pour, the rain falls
But this is not my dream

Soaking wet, I am swallowed whole
Rising mud where there once was solid ground
I cannot run, as much as I try
Sinking to the depths,
To forgotten, buried memories
To lessons not learned, to lost opportunities
To suffocation, to shame, to disappointment

‘But I am bigger than this’, I think
I realize there I let others define me
Drawing shapes, deriving comclusions
Holding me back
But I deserve much more than this
I have earned it
Breaking away, casting off the chains
Claiming my place
I own this, I am in control
So chain by chain is broken
Life at my own terms
Rising through the misery
The pain
The bad
Rising beyond it all
I am free

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