Two Poems by Dylan Thomas

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

 

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And death shall have no dominion

 

And death shall have no dominion
Dead man naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion. 

Dylan Thomas published several books of poetry, among them are Eighteen Poems, Sunday Referee and Parton Bookshop, 1934; Twenty-five Poems, Dent, 1936; New Poems, New Directions, 1943; Deaths and Entrances, Dent, 1946, 1984; Selected Writings of Dylan Thomas, New Directions, 1946, 1970; Twenty-six Poems, Dent, 1950; In Country Sleep and Other Poems, Dent, 1952; Collected Poems, 1934-1952, Dent, 1952, published as The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas, New Directions, 1953, reprinted, 1971, reprinted as Collected Poems, 1934-1952, Dent, 1984; (posthumously) Collected Poems, Dutton, 1966; Poem in October, Coach House Press, 1970; The Poems of Dylan Thomas, New Directions, 1971, revised edition, Dent, 1978; Poems, Dent, 1974; Selected Poems of Dylan Thomas, Dent, 1975; Dylan Thomas Selected Poems, 1934-1952, New Directions, 2003 (Poetry Foundation).

Dylan Thomas (October 27, 1914 - November 9, 1953)