Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ULTIMATE (1), by JOHN COWPER POWYS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ULTIMATE (1), by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When the head of a man lies under the sod
Last Line: Like mice have scuttled back into the air.
Subject(s): Death; God; Graves; Napoleon I (1769-1821); Rome, Italy; Trees; Dead, The; Tombs; Tombstones


When the head of a man lies under the sod,
And, like little decrepit mice,
The deepest thoughts of his brain creep out,
They have nothing to do with God.
As a rule they're not even pure or nice.
Shall we see, in one case, what they're about?

Sit down on this sun-warmed stone;
And take in your hand this thing --
The skull of a man! Do you feel
How they slipped out one by one,
His curious thoughts? A spell can bring
Them back to the place where I kneel.

One is about the root of a tree
And a Valentine buried there;
One is about a crooked cross;
A number -- ending in nought and three --
Comes next; then a half-penny's loss
In the streets of Rome; then a coil of yellow hair.

A honey-pot in a tea-house, near
To the Penseur of the Pantheon;
A table rapped by spooks, or those
Who sat at it; a passing tear
At Fontainebleau for Napoleon;
And so the list might close.

Or it might go on to other matters
Still stranger, -- to geraniums blowing
On sea-side walls; -- to ragged shoes
Laid carelessly by skirts in tatters;
To ashes in a broken furnace glowing;
To drops that from a squeezed Pomegranate ooze.

Enough! Put the skull back beneath the sod,
And let the earth fall on it -- It is over --
A human life! -- and all his thoughts that were
Not very wise, not much concerned with God,
But big enough the whole round earth to cover,
Like mice have scuttled back into the air.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net