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Home  »  Modern British Poetry  »  Nearer

Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern British Poetry. 1920.

Robert Nichols1893–1944

Nearer

NEARER and ever nearer…

My body, tired but tense,

Hovers ’twixt vague pleasure

And tremulous confidence.

Arms to have and to use them

And a soul to be made

Worthy, if not worthy;

If afraid, unafraid.

To endure for a little,

To endure and have done:

Men I love about me,

Over me the sun!

And should at last suddenly

Fly the speeding death,

The four great quarters of heaven

Receive this little breath.