And death shall have no dominion

I love this, and not only because it is a fantastic poem, a classic that stands up and kicks back to this very day. It is also because of a childhood friend of mine, who got a copy of it out of her bag and handed it over to me. Read this, she said; and that was all, plain and simple.

Those were some pretty tough times. We were having a couple of drinks that day; maybe more than a couple. That same evening I put the copy up on my bedroom wall. And it stayed there for a while. And ever since, what I do when some pretty tough times come about is stand up and kick back; that is all, plain and simple.

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                                  Dylan Thomas   And death shall have no dominion

                                  And death shall have no dominion.

                                  Dead men 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.