Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SOUND SEED by HORTENSE KING FLEXNER

First Line: WE HEAR OF DEATH
Last Line: AND FOR THIS FACT NO HANDS CAN DIG A GRAVE.
Subject(s): CEMETERIES; DEATH; GRAVES; GRAVEYARDS; DEAD, THE; TOMBS; TOMBSTONES;

We hear of death,
Our thoughts move in a ring;
It seems steel-fingered hands shall make at last
An end of breath.
But in this panic air,
Let me now contemplate one single thing
To hold me fast,
One thing cut to my need
And larger than despair—
The dark plump apple seed
Hung in its mica walls,
Thriving by unknown laws of seed progression—
Yes, though the strong tree falls,
Though it must die;
There is a thought in nature that shall save
The sound seed, and hold high
Its life, its long succession—
And for this fact no hands can dig a grave.



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