English Poem “Meditation on a Bone:” of poet Alec Derwent Hope complete poem with summery for Students.

Meditation on a Bone:

Alec Derwent Hope

A piece of bone, found at Trondhjem in 1901, with the following runic inscription (about A.D. 1050) cut on it: I loved her as a maiden; I will not trouble Erlend’s detestable wife; better she should be a widow.

Words scored upon a bone,

Scratched in despair or rage —

Nine hundred years have gone;

Now, in another age,

They burn with passion on

A scholar’s tranquil page.

The scholar takes his pen

And turns the bone about,

And writes those words again.

Once more they seethe and shout

And through a human brain

Undying hate rings out.

I loved her when a maid;

I loathe and love the wife

That warms another’s bed:

Let him beware his life!

The scholar’s hand is stayed;

His pen becomes a knife

To grave in living bone

The fierce archaic cry.

He sits and reads his own

Dull sum of misery.

A thousand years have flown

Before that ink is dry.

And, in a foreign tongue,

A man, who is not he,

Reads and his heart is wrung

This ancient grief to see,

And thinks: When I am dung,

What bone shall speak for me?”

Related posts:

English Poem “Sonnet VII:” of poet Alan Seeger complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “At the Tomb of Napoleon” of poet Alan Seeger complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Pastor Cum” of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Aubade” of poet Adelaide Crapsey complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Argemone” of Adam Lindsay Gordon complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Fauconshawe” of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “The Song Of The Surf” of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon complete poem with summery for Stude...
English Poems
English Poem “Cradle Song” of poet Adelaide Crapsey complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Broceliande” of poet Alan Seeger complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “The Aisne” of poet Alan Seeger complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Confiteor” of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Milking Time” of poet Adelaide Crapsey complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Translations: Dante - Inferno, Canto XXVI” of poet Alan Seeger complete poem with summ...
English Poems
English Poem “Ariosto. Orlando Furioso, Canto X, 91-99” of poet Alan Seeger complete poem with summe...
English Poems
English Poem “Bluenote Time” of poet Adrian Green complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “A Hunting Song” of Adam Lindsay Gordon complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Unshriven” of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Bellona” of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Sonnet 04” of poet Alan Seeger complete poem with summery for Students.
English Poems
English Poem “Per Pacem Ad Lucem” of poet Adelaide Anne Procter complete poem with summery for Stude...
English Poems

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.