The Poetry Corner

In Time of Mourning

By Algernon Charles Swinburne

"Return," we dare not as we fain Would cry from hearts that yearn: Love dares not bid our dead again Return. O hearts that strain and burn As fires fast fettered burn and strain! Bow down, lie still, and learn. The heart that healed all hearts of pain No funeral rites inurn: Its echoes, while the stars remain, Return.