| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | VI. The Grave’s Triumph
A Saxon Epitaph | | By Marjorie L. C. Pickthall (1883–1922) |
| | | The earth builds on the earth | |
| Castle and towers; | |
| The earth saith of the earth: | |
| All shall be ours. | |
| |
| Yea, though they plant and reap | 5 |
| The rye and the corn, | |
| Lo, they were bond to Sleep | |
| Ere they were born. | |
| |
| Yea, though the blind earth sows | |
| For the fruit and the sheaf, | 10 |
| They shall harvest the leaf of the rose | |
| And the dust of the leaf. | |
| |
| Pride of the sword and power | |
| Are theirs at their need | |
| Who shall rule but the root of the flower, | 15 |
| The fall of the seed. | |
| |
| They who follow the flesh | |
| In splendour and tears, | |
| They shall rest and clothe them afresh | |
| In the fullness of years. | 20 |
| |
| From the dream of the dust they came | |
| As the dawn set free. | |
| They shall pass as the flower of the flame | |
| Or the foam of the sea. | |
| |
| The earth builds on the earth | 25 |
| Cities and towers. | |
| The earth saith of the earth: | |
| All shall be ours. | | | | |
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