The white-walled Rome of an unwritten epic, Spreading like the waters of a new well run; Drinking at the lips of a clear green river Rising in the fountains and the wells of the sun! Nothing of imperial dust in her cellars, Nothing of the torn old tower and dome; Mistress of her clean white halls unhaunted City of the sunrise, altar, and home! City of the sunrise hills unhaunted By the skulls of kings and the ribs of decay; Seeded in the earth like a clean deep tap-root-- The granite in the oak of her boughs today!' A white ship built in a cool green forest And launched with the green leaves fresh on her bow, Sun on her sails and foam on her anchors, Halfway out on her maiden trip now! The clean new Rome of an unwritten epic, Spreading to the borders of a universal dream; A white ship launched on a universal river, Steering for the sun at the mouth of the stream! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A TIME TO DANCE by CECIL DAY LEWIS WINTER NIGHT SONG by SARA TEASDALE WHEN DEY 'LISTED COLORED SOLDIERS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR A THANKSGIVING TO GOD [FOR HIS HOUSE] by ROBERT HERRICK DISCONTENTS IN DEVON by ROBERT HERRICK ODE (MUSIC-MAKERS) by ARTHUR WILLIAM EDGAR O'SHAUGHNESSY 23RD STREET RUNS INTO HEAVEN by KENNETH PATCHEN HINTS OF AN HISTORICAL PLAY TO BE CALLED WILLIAM RUFUS by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |