A Saxon Epitaph
A Saxon Epitaph
Original Text
Marjorie L. C. Pickthall, The Lamp of Poor Souls and Other Poems (Toronto: S. B. Gundy, 1916): 139-40. PS 8531 I35L3 Robarts Library.
2Castles and towers;
3The earth saith of the earth:
4All shall be ours.
5 Yea, though they plan and reap
6 The rye and the corn,
7 Lo, they were bond to Sleep
8 Ere they were born.
9 Yea, though the blind earth sows
10 For the fruit and the sheaf,
11 They shall harvest the leaf of the rose
12 And the dust of the leaf.
13 Pride of the sword and power
14 Are theirs at their need
15 Who shall rule but the root of the flower
16 The fall of the seed.
17 They who follow the flesh
18 In splendour and tears,
19 They shall rest and clothe them afresh
20 In the fulness of years.
21 From the dream of the dust they came
22 As the dawn set free.
23 They shall pass as the flower of the flame
24 Or the foam of the sea.
25 The earth builds on the earth
26 Castles and towers.
27 The earth saith of the earth:
28 All shall be ours.
Notes
1] "The third of Ecclesiastes forms the best key to the mysteries of `The Saxon Epitaph' that I can think of. The first verse is a genuine Saxon fragment; I was fascinated by the austere, almost classical, melody, and continued it -- with some degeneration. The `earth' that builds on the earth is of course man." (letter written from Victoria College, Oct. 12, 1912; quoted by Lorne Pierce, Marjorie Pickthall: A Book of Remembrance [Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1925]: 67). Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1912
Publication Notes
University Magazine (Oct. 1912).
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Rhyme