Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse
July 5, 2023Quiet Work
July 5, 2023Requiescat
Strew on her roses, roses,
And never a spray of yew!
In quiet she reposes;
Ah, would that I did too!
Her mirth the world required;
She bathed it in smiles of glee.
But her heart was tired, tired,
And now they let her be.
Her life was turning, turning,
In mazes of heat and sound.
But for peace her soul was yearning,
And now peace laps her round.
Her cabin’d, ample spirit,
It flutter’d and fail’d for breath.
To-night it doth inherit
The vasty hall of death.
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was an English poet and critic known for his works that explored the tensions between tradition and modernity. He was also a prominent literary and cultural critic.