A SAXON EPITAPH - John Arthur Phillips Poems

 
 

Poems » john arthur phillips » a saxon epitaph

A SAXON EPITAPH

The earth builds on the earth
Castles and towers;
The earth saith of the earth:
All shall be ours.

        Yea, though they plan and reap
        The rye and the corn,
        Lo, they were bond to Sleep
        Ere they were born.

        Yea, though the blind earth sows
        For the fruit and the sheaf,
        They shall harvest the leaf of the rose
        And the dust of the leaf.

        Pride of the sword and power
        Are theirs at their need
        Who shall rule but the root of the flower
        The fall of the seed.

        They who follow the flesh
        In splendour and tears,
        They shall rest and clothe them afresh
        In the fulness of years.

        From the dream of the dust they came
        As the dawn set free.
        They shall pass as the flower of the flame
        Or the foam of the sea.

                The earth builds on the earth
                Castles and towers.
                The earth saith of the earth:
                All shall be ours.