Death & Dying
The Noble's Grave
Translated by Alfred Perceval Graves (1917) · From A Celtic Psaltery (1917)
Premier Peer but yesterday,
Lone within the tomb to-morrow;
For his silken garments gay,
Grave-clothes in a gravelled furrow.
No love-making, homage none;
From his mines no golden mintage;
No rich traffic in the sun;
No more purple-purling vintage.
No more usherings out of Hall
By obsequious attendant;
No more part, however small,
In the Pageant's pomp resplendent!
Just a perch of churchyard clay
All the soil he now possesses;
Heavily its burthen grey
On his pulseless bosom presses.
Codex Note
After Sion Cent, priest of Kentchurch in Hereford.
Cite this poem
MLA
Cent, Siôn. “The Noble's Grave.” Translated by Alfred Perceval Graves. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/sion-cent/0/.
Chicago
Cent, Siôn. “The Noble's Grave.” Translated by Alfred Perceval Graves. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/sion-cent/0/.