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Service Of All The Dead

Topics: classic

Between the avenues of cypresses,     All in their scarlet cloaks, and surplices     Of linen, go the chaunting choristers,     The priests in gold and black, the villagers.     And all along the path to the cemetery     The round, dark heads of men crowd silently,     And black-scarved faces of women-folk, wistfully     Watch at the banner of death, and the mystery.     And at the foot of a grave a father stands     With sunken head, and forgotten, folded hands;     And at the foot of a grave a woman kneels     With pale shut face, and neither hears nor feels     The coming of the chaunting choristers     Between the avenues of cypresses,     The silence of the many villagers,     The candle-flames beside the surplices.

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"Between the avenues of cypresses,..."

"Service Of All The Dead" is a quintessential example of D. H. Lawrence (David Herbert Richards)'s signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

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"The chime of the bells, and the church clock strik..."

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