We do lie beneath the grass
In the moonlight, in the shade
Of the yew-tree. They that pass
Hear us not. We are afraid
They would envy our delight,
In our graves by glow-worm night.
Come follow us, and smile as we;
We sail to the rock in the ancient waves,
Where the snow falls by thousands into the sea,
And the drown’d and the shipwreck’d have happy graves.
Credits
Thomas Lovell Beddoes was a 19th-century English poet and playwright, best known for his obsession with death, the macabre, and the gothic imagination. He spent much of his adult life in self-imposed exile across Europe, and his fascination with mortality permeates nearly all of his work. "Dirge" exemplifies his rare gift for making death feel not terrifying, but eerily seductive.
