I IT was a little dead man, At peace with all the earth; Yet I never saw a dead man So seeming near to mirth. His hands were meekly hidden, At his very last request -- The right in his hip pocket, And the other in his vest. His collar was thrown open, And he wore his easy clothes -- Had his ordinary boots on, With rosin on the toes. II And so the little dead man Lay coffined for the tomb. The hearse was at the doorway -- The mourners in the room -- When suddenly a stranger, Who had called the day before With a book beneath his elbow, Entered softly at the door, And stood before the mourners In his bold and brazen might, A note-book in the left hand And a pencil in the right. And he turned him to the mourners With a business air, and said: "I must really beg your pardon, But the gentleman that's dead "Was kind enough to tell me, If I'd call around to-day He'd be prepared to listen To all I had to say. "And in view of that engagement, I would gently intimate (As it may pitch the funeral Some dozen hours late,) "That you have my indulgence," And with eyelids downward thrown, They left the little dead man And the agent all alone. As only stars may lighten Up the grandeur of the plains, And the mountains where the midnight In her mystic beauty reigns, So the stars must shed their glory O'er imagination's vales, And illuminate the story Where the poet's pencil fails. . . . . . . . But there was a little dead man -- Ah! so very dead indeed, They fastened down his coffin lid With most judicious speed. And they whose latest office Was to shroud his form from sight, Saw a note-book in the left hand, And a pencil in the right. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SELF-REJECTED by JEAN STARR UNTERMEYER BUDMOUTH DEARS by THOMAS HARDY THE GARDEN SEAT by THOMAS HARDY TOUJOURS AMOUR by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN THE CHILD ALONE: 3. MY KINGDOM by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON UPON MY FATHERS SUDDEN & DANGEROUS SICKNESS by JOSEPH BEAUMONT |