At The Funeral Of A Minor Poet

by Thomas Bailey Aldrich — a poem card from Justes Mots

A bearer at a minor poet's funeral meditates on the poet's modest talents and enduring legacy, arguing that true beauty transcends fashion and may be recognized only by posterity. Aldrich reflects on 19th-century aesthetic movements and contrasts the poet's idealism with the realism of his age. The poem serves those contemplating how quiet, unrecognized devotion to beauty and art can have lasting impact.

[One of the Bearers soliloquizes:]

. . . Room in your heart for him, O Mother Earth,
Who loved each flower and leaf that made you fair,
And sang your praise in verses manifold
And delicate, with here and there a line
From end to end in blossom like a bough
The May breathes on, so rich it was.Some thought…

Themes: sympathy · grief · reflection