by Philip Larkin<\/p>\n
Side by side, their faces blurred,
\nThe earl and countess lie in stone,
\nTheir proper habits vaguely shown
\nAs jointed armour, stiffened pleat,
\nAnd that faint hint of the absurd \u2014
\nThe little dogs under their feet.<\/p>\n
Such plainness of the pre-baroque
\nHardly involves the eye, until
\nIt meets his left-hand gauntlet, still
\nClasped empty in the other; and
\nOne sees, with a sharp tender shock,
\nHis hand withdrawn, holding her hand.<\/p>\n
They would not think to lie so long.
\nSuch faithfulness in effigy
\nWas just a detail friends would see:
\nA sculptor\u2019s sweet commissioned grace
\nThrown off in helping to prolong
\nThe Latin names around the base.<\/p>\n
They would not guess how early in
\nTheir supine stationary voyage
\nThe air would change to soundless damage,
\nTurn the old tenantry away;
\nHow soon succeeding eyes begin
\nTo look, not read. Rigidly they<\/p>\n
Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths
\nOf time. Snow fell, undated. Light
\nEach summer thronged the glass. A bright
\nLitter of birdcalls strewed the same
\nBone-riddled ground. And up the paths
\nThe endless altered people came,<\/p>\n
Washing at their identity.
\nNow, helpless in the hollow of
\nAn unarmorial age, a trough
\nOf smoke in slow suspended skeins
\nAbove their scrap of history,
\nOnly an attitude remains:<\/p>\n
Time has transfigured them into
\nUntruth. The stone fidelity
\nThey hardly meant has come to be
\nTheir final blazon, and to prove
\nOur almost-instinct almost true:
\nWhat will survive of us is love.<\/p>\n
-Read at St. Lydia’s on May 29 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Philip Larkin Side by side, their faces blurred, The earl and countess lie in stone, Their proper habits vaguely shown As jointed armour, stiffened pleat, And that faint hint of the absurd \u2014 The little dogs under their feet. Such plainness of the pre-baroque Hardly involves the eye, until It meets his left-hand gauntlet, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":772,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions\/772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}