Liverpool Monuments: Sean Rice poem

Sean Rice, poem

Seagulls ascending, cormorants diving and sea eagles upon the wing-
The Winnower sorts the wheat from the chaff as the Herald Angels sing!

Sean Rice was born in London in the Nineteen Thirties-
He was a sculptor of great renown
He could have gone to Rome to live-But he chose another jewel in the crown!
Liverpool! To teach those willing to learn-How to look beyond the mundane
To reach for Heaven inside themselves, beyond the proud and the profane!

Sean Rice often worked alone in his studio, long into the silent night
To finish what he had started, welding copper and bronze-With his vision burning bright
His earthly journey was almost over-He could hear Angels in their flight- Still he followed the Way of the Cross, into The Darkness and the Light

Sean Rice left a legacy for Liverpool-No, I don't just mean his 'Art!'
Though 'Abraham and Shemaiah! Noah and the Four Winds'-They'll do for a start!
Who will pull the Sword from the Stone? Don't try-it would be a mistake! Sean Rice was cast from the same mould-As the famous William Blake!

Seagulls ascending, cormorants diving and sea eagles upon the wing
The Winnower sorts the wheat from the chaff as the Herald Angels sing!

By Brian O'Connell