Pansies (Lawrence)/The Death of our Era

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THE DEATH OF OUR ERA
Our era is dyingyet who has killed it?Have we, who are it?In the middle of voluted spaceits knell has struck.And in the middle of every atom, which is the same thing,a tiny bell of conclusion has sounded.
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The curfew of our great daythe passing-bell of our way of knowingthe knell of our bald-headed consciousnessthe tocsin of this our civilisation.
Who struck the bell?Who rang the knell?Not I, not youyet all of us.
At the core of space the final knellof our era has struck, and it chimesin terrible rippling circles between the starstill it reaches us, and its vibrations shatter useach time they touch us.
And they keep on coming, with greater forcestriking us, the vibrations of our finish.
And all that we can dois to die the amazing deathwith every stroke, and go ontill we are blank.
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And yet, as we die, why should not our vast mechanised day die with us,so that when we are re-born, we can be born into a fresh world.
For the new word is Resurrection.

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