Poetry of Kansas
 

Nirvana.

You would not struggle so for life,
        Could you but know
        How lovely death is!
You would not cudgel so for gain,
        Could you but know
        How sweet is nothing.
No galling weight of care,
No burden but the air.
 
I who have passed beyond once
        knew the lure of distant purple,
Saw red upon the dawn and felt the
        urge of spring,
Mauled and grappled with the
        aching crowd,
All for nothing;
Nothing is the end of all.
 
Now would the sweetest singing be
        a burden,
The melodies of harps would be a
        dread,
Even the voice of YOU goes by un-
        heeded,
My God, but it is lovely to be dead!

__Elizabeth N. Barr.

The High Winds of Home
Elizabeth N. Barr
(Olathe: privately published. 1922)
Page 47

 
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November 28, 2002 / John & Susan Howell / Wichita, Kansas / howell@kotn.org

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