Dickens, Charles

CHARLES DICKENS

Sketch

English Writer

Attributions

Sketch Copy of Charles Dickens, 1842

Source

Own Work

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Dickens_s1_1_cd.jpg

Date and Places of Birth and Death

BORN:  Feb. 7, 1812

DIED:   June  9, 1870

____________________

THE IVY GREEN.

O, A DAINTY plant is the ivy green,

   That creepeth o'er ruins old !

Of right choice food are his meals, I ween,

   In his cell so lone and cold.

The walls must be crumbled, the stones, decayed,

   To pleasure his dainty whim ;

And the mouldering dust that years have made

   Is a merry meal for him.

         Creeping where no life is seen, 

         A rare old plant is the ivy green.

Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings,

   And a stanch old heart has he !

How closely he twineth, how tight he clings

   To his friend, the huge oak-tree !

And slyly he traileth along the ground,

   And his leaves he gently waves,

And he joyously twines and hugs around

   The rich mould of dead men's graves.

         Creeping where no life is seen,

         A rare old plant is the ivy green.  

Whole ages have fled, and their works decayed,

   And nations scattered been ;

But the stout old ivy shall never fade

   From its hale and hearty green.

The brave old plant in its lonely days

   Shall fatten upon the past ;

For the stateliest building man can raise

   Is the ivy's food at last.

         Creeping where no life is seen,

         A rare old plant is the ivy green.

CHARLES DICKENS