Rupert Atkinson

Melbourne Sonnets. 4. On the Kerb

ALL'S life, and yet men doubt it, deeming it
Absorbed by one of its conditions; so
Destroyed in one breath's trifling death, as though
The sun were drowned in every pool or pit
Deeming, moreover, that one's soul is lit
And fashioned by his warm blood's ebb and flow,
Like blood's own warmth — which he could only know
Because aloof, undying, infinite
All is life! Men watch the trickling years dissolve;
Earth strives to life. Life from unfeeling clay
Must prove the Cosmos sentient, the blue sky
God's garment; and men watch the dust evolve
With will for sight and hearing, and survey
Life — only life! Fools do not doubt they die!