Monday, September 14, 2009

And Death Shall Have No Dominion by Dylan Thomas, a poem I really love.

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

5 comments:

Brian Campbell said...

I memorized that one once. By the way, I have another wonderful poet to share -- on my blog. Follow the links.

Pris said...

It's one well worth memorizing, and I just posted on your blog!

Brian Campbell said...

Thanks. Did you see the Sinead Morrissey poem? It's one below the Cohen post. I anticipate it will blow you away. (It did me.)

Brian

Anna G Raman said...

Very thought provoking. Thanks for sharing.

Jim K. said...

Great "posessed by the vision".
One who is rocked can do the rockin.