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1819–1891

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James Russell Lowell

I cannot think that thou shouldst pass away, Whose life to mine is an eternal law, A piece of nature that can have no flaw, A new and certain sunrise every day:

But, if thou art to be another ray About the Sun of Life, and art to live Free from what part of thee was fugitive, The debt of Love I will more fully pay,

Not downcast with the thought of thee so high, But rather raised to be a nobler man, And more divine in my humanity, As knowing that the waiting eyes which scan

My life are lighted by a purer being, And ask high, calm-browed deeds, with it agreeing.

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X · James Russell Lowell · Poetry Cove