Edward Cooke

Doctor of Physick, philosopher, you hold a teasing pen;
what wisdom would you give us if your hand could move again?

Scientific formulae, concepts to explain our mind and frame? –
the spread of human knowledge still your worthy aim?
Or would you spell out now the name above every name?

Have you entered on eternity, the everlasting life
our creeds proclaim? Is heaven true? – an end to strife
when death severs soul from body with her knife?

No point in asking you; you’ll never tell.
Unlike the quick, the dead keep silence well.

©Virginia Rounding, 1966

First published in Awaiting an Epiphany