The Memory of The Sun Emily Harjabrata
In response to The Fighting Temeraire , tugged to her last Berth to be broken up , 1838 , by Joseph Mallord William Turner
Only the sun seems to remember The gilded Temeraire , Instead of this pale spirit-ship , Whom the world has left to languish In a corner of history ’ s vast painting . Only the sun rails against the world ’ s callousness , Striking the sky with streaks of rusted maroon , Pleading with the eras to turn back and pause At a time where the sun was high And the Temeraire still magnificent .
But pleas move no creature As stubborn as time . If the resplendent sun cannot stop The moon from rising in its place , Then it cannot stop The puny tugboat from being More solid and more real Than the Fighting Temeraire .