Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PAGAN PAST, by JOHN LAWSON STODDARD Poet's Biography First Line: What sylvan god was worshipped here? Last Line: I sail, companioned by the past. Subject(s): Beauty; Death; Mythology - Classical; Paganism & Pagans; Pan (mythology); Past; Dead, The | ||||||||
What sylvan god was worshipped here? What nymph once made this grove her home, And bathed within its fountain clear, When Caesar ruled the world at Rome? Did Pan frequent this charming site, So hidden from the haunts of men? Did nymphs and satyrs dance at night Within this moon-illumined glen? Ah, who can doubt it, when these vines Form trellised screens for distant snow, And trace in arabesque designs Their profiles on the Alpine glow? So sure were Dryads to select A region thus supremely fair! So apt were mortals to erect In such a place a shrine for prayer! The two millenniums have not brought Diminished splendor to this bay; The strand which Pliny loved and sought Is no less beautiful to-day. Hence, while the fragrant rose-leaves fall, And white magnolia-blossoms gleam Above my wave-lapped garden wall, I seem to see, as in a dream, The kneeling forms of those who laid Their floral offerings on that shrine, And here their grateful tribute paid To beauty, rightly deemed divine. Doth some Divinity each morn Cast over me its ancient spell, That this sweet landscape seems forlorn Without the gods who loved it well? Men tell me they are dead and gone, But when my soul is moved to pray, I feel, beside my sculptured Faun, They are not very far away. For I, who love this classic lake, And cruise along its storied shores, See Roman galleys in my wake, And hear the stroke of phantom oars. It matters not which way I steer, Or if my course be slow or fast, The Pagan world seems always near; I sail, companioned by the Past. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND A MAY MONODY by JOHN LAWSON STODDARD |
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