Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TRUE GREATNESS, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TRUE GREATNESS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: How sad that all great things are sad
Last Line: With baby flowers at his feet.
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): Human Behavior; Conduct Of Life; Human Nature


How sad that all great things are sad --
That greatness knows not to be glad.
The boundless, spouseless, fearful sea
Pursues the moon incessantly;
And Caesar childless lives and dies.
The thunder-torn Sequoia tree
In solemn isloation cries
Sad chorus with the homeless wind
Above the clouds, above his kind,
Above the bastioned peak, above
All sign or sound or sense of love.
How mateless, desolate and drear
His lorn, long seven thousand year!
My comrades, lovers, dare to be
More truly great than Caesar; he
Who hewed three hundred towns apart,
Yet never truly touched one heart.
The tearful, lorn, complaining sea
The very moon looks down upon,
Then changes, -- as a saber drawn;
The great Sequoia lords as lone
As God upon that fabled throne.
No, no! True greatness, glory, fame.
Is his who claims not place nor name,
But loves, and lives content, complete,
With baby flowers at his feet.





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