The Ismay plot, Putney Vale Cemetery: the bench

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 15 Apr 2012

At the far end of the plot, close to the cemetery fence, stands this stone bench. The back-rest carries the following inscription: The little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west And I smiled to think God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness, Round our restlessness, His rest. That - it turns out - is the final verse of 'The Rhyme of the Duchess May', by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, which runs to one hundred and eleven verses. http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/54455/ (Many thanks to ceridwen http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/6699 for identifying this for me). I'll confess I'm puzzled by the design carved into the bench-end. The overall pattern could be read as vegetation - I think I can see leaves and flowers - but that just doesn't square with the waves which form a frieze round the bottom of the bench (and there are even a few fishes!). I've visited this site many times (as we have family graves nearby) but this was the first time that I've seen the bench lit up by sunlight. A steep, wooded bank rises just behind it - and since that direction is south, trees and bank keep the bench in chilly shade for much of the year. For more about the Ismay plot, see: Image

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