The Unceasing Round
The Unceasing Round
Original Text
Sonnets of Edward Robeson Taylor on some Pictures Painted by William Keith (San Francisco: E. D. Taylor, 1898): 25. Internet Archive
2 All stark in death, with arms in vain appeal
3 For what it nevermore can taste or feel
4 Of joys of earth or of the heavens divine.
5Straight as in life it stands, still bearing sign
6 Of noble majesty and dauntless will;
7 While at its base its elder brothers spill
8 Their ashes where the grasses kiss and twine.
9A glorious redwood centuries have blessed
10 Uptowers, while with bliss of life possessed
11 The forest sings in grand, harmonious tone.
12And careless men pass by -- the children they
13 Of other children death has made his own.
14 And who like them shall strive and pass away.
Notes
1] Unidentified painting by William Keith (1838–1911), a Scottish-American painter of California landscapes. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
Data entry: Sharine Leung
RPO Edition
2012
Rhyme
Form