Rivers to the Sea

Teasdale, Sara. Rivers to the Sea
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library
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TESTAMENT

I SAID, "I will take my life
     And throw it away;
I who was fire and song
     Will turn to clay."

"I will lie no more in the night
     With shaken breath,
I will toss my heart in the air
     To be caught by Death."

But out of the night I heard,
     Like the inland sound of the sea,
The hushed and terrible sob
     Of all humanity.

Then I said, "Oh who am I
     To scorn God to his face?
I will bow my head and stay
     And suffer with my race."

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