The Ismay plot, Putney Vale Cemetery: The little birds sang east and the little birds sang west

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 15 Apr 2012

This bench stands at the far end of the Ismay plot, some way back from the cemetery perimeter road. The steep bank behind it marks the boundary with Wimbledon Common. The inscription on the back-rest is partly obscured by algae and lichen, but reads as follows: 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. My friend ceridwen http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/6699 tells me this is the final verse of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 'Rhyme of the Duchess May' (which runs to all of one hundred and eleven verses!). http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/54455/ The bench was - I believe - carved and inscribed by A.H. Gerrard, who taught at the Slade School of Art. A clearer impression of his style can be had here: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2902174 Gerrard's name is no longer well-known, though he was highly thought of in his day - at 55 Broadway, Westminster (adjacent to St James' Park Underground) his work appears alongside that of Jacob Epstein, Henry Moore and Eric Gill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/55_Broadway For more about the Ismay plot, see: Image

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