One lonely day on a side street in Melbourne I found a box of discarded books. Among them, "Select Poems by Matthew Arnold".

I wanted to share my favourite from the little unwanted & tattered book.

Requiescat

Strew on her roses, roses,
And never a spray of yew!
In quiet she reposes;
Ah! would that I did too.

Her mirth the world required;
She bathed it in smiles of glee.
But her heart was tired, tired,
And now they let her be.

Her life was turning, turning,
In mazes of heat and sound;
But for peace her soul of yearning
And now peace laps her round.

Her cabin'd, ample spirit,
It flutter'd and fail'd for breath;
To-night it doth inherit
The vasty hall of death.

Matthew Arnold, 1822-1888

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Kalaurie