Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LINES, WRITTEN AFTER A VISIT TO GRAVE OF WILLIAM MOTHERWELL, by WILLIAM KENNEDY First Line: Place we a stone at his head and his feet Last Line: Feelings akin to the lost poet's own. Subject(s): Graves; Motherwell, William (1797-1835); Tombs; Tombstones | ||||||||
PLACE we a stone at his head and his feet; Sprinkle his sward with the small flowers sweet; Piously hallow the Poet's retreat! Ever approvingly, Ever most lovingly, Turned he to nature, a worshipper meet. Harm not the thorn which grows at his head; Odorous honours its blossoms will shed, Grateful to him, early summoned, who sped Hence, not unwillingly -- For he felt thrillingly -- To rest his poor heart 'mong the low-lying dead. Dearer to him than the deep Minster bell, Winds of sad cadence, at midnight, will swell, Vocal with sorrows he knoweth too well, Who, for the early day, Plaining this roundelay, Might his own fate from a brother's foretell. Worldly ones treading this terrace of graves, Grudge not the minstrel the little he craves, When o'er the snow-mound the winter-blast raves -- Tears -- which devotedly, Though all unnotedly, Flow from their spring, in the soul's silent caves. Dreamers of noble thoughts, raise him a shrine, Graced with the beauty which lives in his line; Strew with pale flow'rets, when pensive moons shine, His grassy covering, Where spirits hovering, Chaunt, for his requiem, music divine. Not as a record he lacketh a stone! Pay a light debt to the singer we've known -- Proof that our love for his name hath not flown With the frame perishing -- That we are cherishing Feelings akin to the lost Poet's own. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SURVIVOR AMONG GRAVES by RANDALL JARRELL SUBJECTED EARTH by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE GRAVE OF MRS. HEMANS by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER THOSE GRAVES IN ROME by LARRY LEVIS NOT TO BE DWELLED ON by HEATHER MCHUGH ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON ETRUSCAN TOMB by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS ENDING WITH A LINE FROM LEAR by MARVIN BELL I AM BORNE ONWARD by SARA TEASDALE THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX [APRIL 9, 1865] by HERMAN MELVILLE |
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