Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

John Hall Wheelock

Life burns us up like fire,
 And Song goes up in flame:
The radiant body smoulders
 To the ashes whence it came.

Out of things it rises
 With a mouth that laughs and sings,
Backward it fades and falters
 Into the char of things.

Yet soars a voice above it—
 Love is holy and strong;
The best of us forever
 Escapes in Love and Song.

Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From The Little Book of Modern Verse | 1913

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Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

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