Xiuqi Huang is a MALS (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies) student at Dartmouth College. She is from Shanghai, China. She studied English literature as an undergraduate, and has been writing poetry in English for more than five years..
poetry
William Ramsay
Xiuqi Huang, Dartmouth College
Out of all the dark, ornate sepulchers
And marble plaques and brass plaques,
One grave alone amused my friend and me:
No loving words, no praise of the Lord,
No Bible quotes, no memento mori
Of skulls, hourglass, shovels and tolling bells:
“Banker” it says, efficient and neat
While he lived (I imagine), still memorably so
In death. Or perhaps he really had no one,
And died in a lonely mansion, and someone
Placed this simple square stone to attest to
His long-ceased existence. Let us hope
That it had been the former case with
William Ramsay, the hero of this poem,
The banker who died in 1809.
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