Our first sweet song of Death.
Edmund Gosse (Encomium Mortis).
This poem appeared in early editions of On viol and Flute, but is now omitted from Mr. Gosse’s poems.
There is one God supreme over all gods, diviner than mortals,
Whose form is not like unto man’s, and as unlike his nature;
But vain mortals imagine that gods like themselves are begotten,
With human sensations and voice and corporeal members;
So, if oxen or lions had hands and could work in man’s fashion,
And trace out with chisel or brush their conception of Godhead,