“irony”
by louis untermeyer

why are the things that have no death
the ones with neither sight nor breath!
eternity is thrust upon
a bit of earth, a senseless stone.
a grain of dust, a casual clod
receives the greatest gift of god.
a pebble in the roadway lies—
it never dies.

the grass our fathers cut away
is growing on their graves today;
the tiniest brooks that scarcely flow
eternally will come and go.
there is no kind of death to kill
the sands that lie so meek and still. .
but man is great and strong and wise—
and so he dies.

source: untermeyer, louis. “irony.” the new poetry: an anthology of the twentieth century. eds. harriet monroe and alice corbin henderson. new york: macmillan, 1936. poetry foundation. web. 6 july 2011.

identify the key details that contribute to the irony in the poem.