Poems (Van Rensselaer)/The Question
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For works with similar titles, see Question.
THE QUESTION
Give, pray the living, give
More willingness to live.
Why, say the dying, why
Is it so hard to die?
And as the newly born
Wake with a wail forlorn,
Shall so the newly dead
Lie in a painful bed?
Or does the cycle close
When the last life-breath goes,
And a new earth begin,
Kinder than this has been?
Ask not, but only wait;
Soon thou shalt know thy fate.
Soon thou shalt know—unless
Greets thee with soft caress
Nothingness.
More willingness to live.
Why, say the dying, why
Is it so hard to die?
And as the newly born
Wake with a wail forlorn,
Shall so the newly dead
Lie in a painful bed?
Or does the cycle close
When the last life-breath goes,
And a new earth begin,
Kinder than this has been?
Ask not, but only wait;
Soon thou shalt know thy fate.
Soon thou shalt know—unless
Greets thee with soft caress
Nothingness.