PAUSE, courteous Spirit! -- Balbi supplicates That Thou, with no reluctant voice, for him Here laid in mortal darkness, wouldst prefer A prayer to the Redeemer of the world. This to the dead by sacred right belongs; All else is nothing. -- Did occasion suit To tell his worth, the marble of this tomb Would ill suffice: for Plato's lore sublime, And all the wisdom of the Stagyrite, Enriched and beautified his studious mind: With Archimedes also he conversed As with a chosen friend, nor did he leave Those laureat wreaths ungathered which the Nymphs Twine near their loved Permessus. -- Finally, Himself above each lower thought uplifting, His ears he closed to listen to the songs Which Sion's Kings did consecrate of old; And his Permessus found on Lebanon. A blessed Man! who of protracted days Made not, as thousands do, a vulgar sleep; But truly did 'He' live his life. Urbino, Take pride in him! -- O Passenger, farewell! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HEMLOCK AND CEDAR by CARL SANDBURG NEW LOVE AND OLD by SARA TEASDALE A VAGABOND SONG by BLISS CARMAN A VISION UPON [THIS CONCEIT] OF THE FAERIE QUEENE (1) by WALTER RALEIGH THE FEMALE GOD by ISAAC ROSENBERG TWELVE ARTICLES by JONATHAN SWIFT |