Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PORTRAIT, by FORD MADOX FORD Poet's Biography First Line: She sits upon a tombstone in the shade Last Line: And solves the riddles of the universe. Alternate Author Name(s): Hueffer, Ford Hermann; Hueffer, Ford Madox Subject(s): Life | ||||||||
SHE sits upon a tombstone in the shade; One flake of sunlight, falling thro' the veils Of quivering poplars, lights upon her hair, Shot golden, and across her candid brow. Thus in the pleasant gloom she holds the eye, Being life amid piled up remembrances Of the tranquil dead. One hand, dropped lightly down, Rests on the words of a forgotten name: Therefore the past makes glad to stay her up. Closed in, walled off: here's an oblivious place, Deep, planted in with trees, unvisited: A still backwater in the tide of life. Life flows all round: sounds from surrounding streets, Laughter of unseen children, roll of wheels, Cries of all vendors.So she sits and waits. And she rejoices us who pass her by, And she rejoices those who here lie still, And she makes glad the little wandering airs, And doth make glad the shaken beams of light That fall upon her forehead: all the world Moves round her, sitting on forgotten tombs And lighting in to-morrow. She is Life: That makes us keep on moving, taking roads, Hauling great burdens up the unending hills, Pondering senseless problems, setting sail For undiscovered anchorages. Here She waits, she waits, sequestered among tombs, The sunlight on her hair. She waits, she waits: The secret music, the resolving note That sets in tune all this discordant world And solves the riddles of the Universe. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRIVILEGE OF BEING by ROBERT HASS SEAWATER STIFFENS CLOTH by JANE HIRSHFIELD SAYING YES TO LIVING by DAVID IGNATOW THE WORLD IS SO DIFFICULT TO GIVE UP by DAVID IGNATOW |
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