Frederick Philip Grove
THE DIRGE
(IM 15, 1-33)

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e-Edition by Gaby Divay
© August 2007

University of Manitoba Libraries	FPG & FrL Collections	University of Manitoba Archives

XIII. "No! Never..."[6] by Frederick Philip Grove No! Never shall I live again as though This earth were my legitimate abode As once I used to live. At last I know That this our life is but a winding road From sea to sea. At birth we step ashore We know not whence. We harvest joy and grief And glean things left by them that went before And ween, although they told the journey brief. That youth must last for us though not for all. Poor fools we! For the future is even now. Even now we tire; the vaunted pleasures pall: We sight the sea; and on our staff we bow. This is the end and goal; we must embark; The skiff is waiting; and its sail is bent. Before us curves the sea; that sea is dark Though still and smooth as if all storms were spent. Such is our common lot; we know it well. But ah that gulfs and bays indent the shore! And to their heads slopes many a luring dell; They, too, lead out to sea through strait or bore. Thus thou, my child, didst still unwearied go When to an inlet led thy sudden road! No, never shall I live again as though This earth were my legitimate abode. In Memoriam 15/13