Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE GRAVE OF SHELLEY, by OSCAR WILDE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE GRAVE OF SHELLEY, by         Recitation             Poet's Biography
First Line: Like burnt-out torches by a sick man's bed
Last Line: Against the rocks of some wave-shattered steep.
Alternate Author Name(s): Finga, O'flahertie Wills
Subject(s): Graves; Italy; Poetry & Poets; Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822); Travel; Tombs; Tombstones; Italians; Journeys; Trips


LIKE burnt-out torches by a sick man's bed
Gaunt cypress-trees stand round the sun-bleached stone;
Here doth the little night-owl make her throne,
And the slight lizard show his jewelled head.
And, where the chaliced poppies flame to red,
In the still chamber of yon pyramid
Surely some Old-World Sphinx lurks darkly hid,
Grim warder of this pleasaunce of the dead.
Ah! sweet indeed to rest within the womb
Of Earth, great mother of eternal sleep,
But sweeter far for thee a restless tomb
In the blue cavern of an echoing deep,
Or where the tall ships founder in the gloom
Against the rocks of some wave-shattered steep.





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