Walking together when the leaves are red, Where all the local patriarchs lie rotten, We smiled to think the optimistic dead Take such precautions not to be forgotten. Indeed, we said, wherever the grave is dug She that was lovely, lovely is no longer; And he that makes acquaintance with the slug, Though cased in steel, shall find the slug the stronger. So we went laughing over the doors of death And read the lofty words on sunken stone, Tasting exultantly our deep-drawn breath Among so many breathless -- dust and bone. Then laughter drowned and the lips had little to say. We saw the child's grave, freshly turned and bare; But some more grieved and trusting hand than ours Had smoothed the soggy earth and set with care Six china pigs impertinently gay, Bespectacled and comic, on the loam. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GREEN SYMPHONY by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER A BALLAD OF TREES AND THE MASTER by SIDNEY LANIER SONNET: 21. TO CYRIACK SKINNER by JOHN MILTON FACADE: 27. WHEN SIR BEELZEBUB by EDITH SITWELL ANNIVERSARIUM BAPTISMI (1) by JOSEPH BEAUMONT THE COMET by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THE HAPPY FOOL by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |