[Editor: This poem by Mary Eliza Fullerton was published in Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics (1908).]
The Shadow
Death is not death while yet the Body lies
In sight; what though the flesh be cold as snow
Laid on an Arctic peak where only go
The wings whose eyrie is against the skies.
Though mortal lids are o’er immortal eyes,
And speech no more from those locked lips doth flow;
No more those quiet hands that helped thee so
By healing touch their magic exercise.
Yet, ’tis the Form; and thou art not bereft
While Death gives alms to Sense, that charity
Feeds the sad heart; and Grief is waiting, left
With all her retinue. Their hour shall be —
Whate’er thy faith — when ’neath the casket lid
The poor clay casket of her soul is hid.
Source:
Mary E. Fullerton, Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics, Melbourne: Thomas C. Lothian, 1908, p. 42
Editor’s notes:
clay = in the context of death, a reference to the idea that, just as God made man from out of clay (from Genesis 2:7 in the Old Testament of the Bible), when humans die they will return to clay, an idea which is similarly expressed in the funeral service in the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer, “we therefore commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust” (or, in this case, clay to clay)
See: 1) “The Book of Common Prayer, With Marginal References to Texts in the Holy Scriptures”, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1839, p. 275 (section CCXXVII) (this edition says “his body”, with the “his” in italics to indicate that the words can be changed to “her body”, whereas the modern gender-neutral version says “this body”)
2) “Why can’t I find “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” in the Bible?”, The Concise Lexicon of Christianity: Ken Collins’ Website
3) “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”, Oxford Reference
eyrie = (also spelt “aerie”) a high isolated place; the nest of an eagle, or other bird of prey, built up high in a tree or cliff
’neath = (vernacular) beneath
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
thee = (archaic) you (regarding a person as the object in a sentence)
’tis = (archaic) a contraction of “it is”
whate’er = (vernacular) an archaic contraction of “whatever”
Leave a Reply