Collected poems by Vachel Lindsay revised and illustrated edition |
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WHAT THE SEXTON SAID |
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 | Collected poems by Vachel Lindsay |  |
WHAT THE SEXTON SAID
Your dust will be upon the wind
Within some certain years,
Though you be sealed in lead to-day
Amid the country's tears.
Within some certain years,
Though you be sealed in lead to-day
Amid the country's tears.
248
When this idyllic churchyard
Becomes the heart of town,
The place to build garage or inn,
They'll throw your tombstone down.
Becomes the heart of town,
The place to build garage or inn,
They'll throw your tombstone down.
Your name so dim, so long outworn,
Your bones so near to earth,
Your sturdy kindred dead and gone,
How should men know your worth?
Your bones so near to earth,
Your sturdy kindred dead and gone,
How should men know your worth?
So read upon the runic moon
Man's epitaph, deep-writ.
It says the world is one great grave.
For names it cares no whit.
Man's epitaph, deep-writ.
It says the world is one great grave.
For names it cares no whit.
It tells the folk to live in peace,
And still, in peace, to die.
At least so speaks the moon to me,
The tombstone of the sky.
And still, in peace, to die.
At least so speaks the moon to me,
The tombstone of the sky.
| Collected poems by Vachel Lindsay | |