On Death Poem by Anne Killigrew

On Death

Rating: 2.9


Tell me thou safest End of all our Woe,
Why wreched Mortals do avoid thee so:
Thou gentle drier o'th' afflicteds Tears,
Thou noble ender of the Cowards Fears;
Thou sweet Repose to Lovers sad dispaire,
Thou Calm t'Ambitions rough Tempestuous Care.
If in regard of Bliss thou wert a Curse,
And then the Joys of Paradise art worse;
Yet after Man from his first Station fell,
And God from Eden Adam did expel,
Thou wert no more an Evil, but Relief;
The Balm and Cure to ev'ry Humane Grief:
Through thee (what Man had forfeited before)
He now enjoys, and ne'r can loose it more.



No subtile Serpents in the Grave betray,
Worms on the Body there, not Soul do prey;
No Vice there Tempts, no Terrors there afright,
No Coz'ning Sin affords a false delight:
No vain Contentions do that Peace annoy,
No feirce Alarms break the lasting Joy.



Ah since from thee so many Blessings flow,
Such real Good as Life can never know;
Come when thou wilt, in thy afrighting'st Dress,
Thy Shape shall never make thy Welcome less.
Thou mayst to Joy, but ne'er to Fear give Birth,
Thou Best, as well as Certain'st thing on Earth.
Fly thee? May Travellers then fly their Rest,
And hungry Infants fly the profer'd Brest.
No, those that faint and tremble at thy Name,
Fly from their Good on a mistaken Fame.
Thus Childish fear did Israel of old
From Plenty and the Promis'd Land with-hold;
They fancy'd Giants, and refus'd to go,
When Canaan did with Milk and Honey flow.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Kevin Straw 25 September 2012

This is a suicide note - not literally - but it expresses the desire of the suicide to be quit of the world - to find relief in death. Yet that is the suicide's false hope - for death ends us and relieves us of nothing but ourselves. We do not lie in the grave glad that all our woes are over.

3 3 Reply
Carlos Echeverria 25 September 2012

What would death be to someone without woe; who never shed a tear; who never held fear, or felt despair? I'm grateful not to know.

4 2 Reply
Ramesh T A 25 September 2011

There is nothing to fear about death because death is just another opportunity to a better life! Also, all born people are bound to die one day and that is why man has no chance of having any fear about death! Man only seeks time to finish unfinished business he has started here and fears death only before he completes his mission! For him peace and satisfaction are important and that comes of his mission well completed before death!

5 1 Reply
Pranab K Chakraborty 25 September 2011

Nice the choice of the day.... No feirce Alarms break the lasting Joy. Such real Good as Life can never know; If I delet the punctuation mark beside the lines and if I get liberty to omit the word from the second line I quote 'such'...what more the philosophers and religious ring-leaders have showered on us...what more till today when political-social-natural disorders threatening us everyday to wind up our camps from the surface...what more....Thanks to PH for such sending. Nice and unique the choice.

4 1 Reply
Chii Agnes 25 September 2011

A great poem ♥ I love it so much. Some of the lines really hit me.

3 1 Reply
Mountain Man 31 January 2019

Very good poem there, on death, a remembering of a past tense...

1 0 Reply
Dennis Taylor 14 June 2018

I liked the flow of this work, the images created have me thinking, to understand its meaning fully, for me each reading opens a new door. good work.

1 0 Reply
Kumarmani Mahakul 25 August 2017

Fly from their Good on a mistaken Fame. Thus Childish fear did Israel of old From Plenty and the Promis'd Land with-hold; They fancy'd Giants, and refus'd to go, When Canaan did with Milk and Honey flow... nice presentation. Interesting pen on death.

2 0 Reply
Rajnish Manga 15 June 2017

The poem reveals the positive role played by death but often addressed as ' thou wert a Curse, @@ Tell me thou safest End of all our Woe, Thou wert no more an Evil, but Relief;

3 0 Reply
Maas Weerabangsa 20 January 2017

A very well written poem which opens the eyes of mankind.

3 0 Reply
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