I stood with awe in silence on the ground, Where Mariposa monarchs, grim and gray Like vast cathedrals, stand with foliage crowned, -- The oldest living things on earth today. Through centuries the fire-fiend swept in vain Around their grizzled trunks; they seem to scorn The snow and hail, wild hurricane and rain! These trees were old before our Christ was born! Man's greatest works endure for but a day; The Pyramids, beneath Egyptian skies, Are slowly crumbling to complete decay; For marble fane a heap of ruins lies. Unnumbered dynasties have come and gone, But these majestic giants still live on! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EVEN SO by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI DEJECTION by GRACE E. ALBRIGHT THE LAST DEMAND by FAITH BALDWIN BILL SWEENY OF THE BLACK GANG by JAMES BARNES A WOMAN'S SONNETS: 6 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT HERE STOOD A HOUSE by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR |