The mournful majesty of human greatness, Monument of desires, kisses, tears, What name better than yours, Diaduminius, Gathers its pride into a symbol for the years? For you were the strange and silent Cæsar Who leaned at night upon the terraces of flame When the swift storm over the urns' black waters With blue metallic lightnings came. And who that has known your story now can say: "Live, thrust skyward still more proud and bold— Happiness is with the women of one's desire, In a marble palace, beside a sceptre of gold"? It lies, O Cæsar, near an old bell-tower, With sapphires strewn in a rippling burn, In an old garden flowered with young roses, In the old house to which one will return. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BLACK REGIMENT by GEORGE HENRY BOKER THE PAST by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE PASSOVER IN THE HOLY FAMILY (FOR A DRAWING) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE PLANTING by MARGARET LEE ASHLEY GREENES FUNERALLS: SONNET 1 by RICHARD BARNFIELD ALEXANDER VI DINES WITH THE CARDINAL OF CAPUA by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET |