Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) was a prominent British poet best known for his narrative poem The Highwayman. Among his reflective works, Epilogue stands out as a deeply contemplative and philosophical piece that explores the eternal questions of life, death, and what lies beyond.
Written with Noyes’ characteristic musicality and spiritual sensitivity, Epilogue serves not only as a closing reflection but also as a metaphysical meditation on human existence. In it, the poet ponders the soul’s journey, the significance of love and memory, and the enduring quest for truth. While embracing Christian ideals, the poem transcends dogma to offer a universal message of hope and transcendence.
The tone is solemn yet comforting, enriched with vivid imagery and lyrical language. Noyes’ use of natural symbols—light, sea, sky—draws the reader into a liminal space between the known world and the infinite. The poem thus invites readers to consider the deeper mysteries of the universe and the quiet persistence of faith amidst doubt.
Epilogue is not merely a farewell—it is an invitation to reflect, to question, and to believe.
Epilogue by Alfred Noyes
Heaven for a looking-glass!Every little valley lies
Under many-clouded skies;
Every little cottage stands
Girt about with boundless lands.
Every little glimmering pond
Claims the mighty shores beyond—
Shores no seamen ever hailed,
Seas no ship has ever sailed.All the shores when day is done
Fade into the setting sun,
So the story tries to teach
More than can be told in speech.Beauty is a fading flower,
Truth is but a wizard’s tower,
Where a solemn death-bell tolls,
And a forest round it rolls.We have come by curious ways
To the light that holds the days;
We have sought in haunts of fear
For that all-enfolding sphere:
And lo! it was not far, but near.
We have found, O foolish-fond,
The shore that has no shore beyond.Deep in every heart it lies
With its untranscended skies;
For what heaven should bend above
Hearts that own the heaven of love?Carol, Carol, we have come
Back to heaven, back to home.