Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SHELDON CHURCH, SOUTH CAROLINA, by EDWARD HARRIS GOODMAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SHELDON CHURCH, SOUTH CAROLINA, by                    
First Line: Within the church-yard of an ancient fane
Last Line: "gone!"
Subject(s): Prayer


Within the church-yard of an ancient fane
I stand beside a time-worn tomb the while
I mourn how naked, gaunt, and racked with pain
Seem now the ruins of that noble pile.
The live oaks gray in sacerdotal dress
Of woven moss, bow to their priestly task,
Their aged fingers seeming here to bless
This hallowed shrine, and musing thus, I ask:

"Where all the people thou hast known?
Pray tell!
The homes, plantations, where they once did dwell?
Is no kin here still bearing those fair names
Which etcher's chisel scarcely now proclaims?"
And as I stand by faded lettered stone,
A knell the trembling fingers toll: "Gone!
Gone!"





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