Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNETS: 4. SIR ALAN M'LEAN'S EFFIGY, ON INCH KENNETH, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON


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SONNETS: 4. SIR ALAN M'LEAN'S EFFIGY, ON INCH KENNETH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hard by the ruined kirk above the sound
Last Line: Tis better with his body than his soul.
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Subject(s): Death; Graves; Dead, The; Tombs; Tombstones


HARD by the ruined kirk above the sound
Among worn headstones, old Sir Alan lies:
?------- of rich grapes buries him around;
And thou mays't see the birds withouten fear
Trip on his face and treble in his ear,
And round his senseless head buzzy summer flies.
Close by from out a trumpet comes a scroll,
Between a skull and crossbones carven deep,
And on the scroll, these words -- "The dead shall rise."
Till when whoever, under summer skies
Shall see the place that guards his quiet sleep,
From ----- ----- for a bed so held at rest
Amongst the lap of mountains, shall suggest
'Tis better with his body than his soul.





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