Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CORNER STONE, by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CORNER STONE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sterile these stones
Last Line: Of all he has done?
Alternate Author Name(s): Ramal, Walter; De La Mare, Walter


Sterile these stones
By time in ruin laid.
Yet many a creeping thing
Its haven has made
In these least crannies, where falls
Dark's dew, and noonday shade.

The claw of the tender bird
Finds lodgement here;
Dye-winged butterflies poise;
Emmet and beetle steer
Their busy course; the bee
Drones, laden, near.

Their myriad-mirrored eyes
Great day reflect.
By their exquisite farings
Is this granite specked;
Is trodden to infinite dust;
By gnawing lichens decked.

Toward what eventual dream
Sleeps its cold on,
When into ultimate dark
These lives shall be gone,
And even of man not a shadow remain
Of all he has done?





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