THESE umbered cliffs and gnarls of masonry Outskeleton Time's central city, Rome; Whereof each arch, entablature, and dome Lies bare in all its gaunt anatomy. And cracking frieze and rotten metope Express, as though they were an open tome Top-lined with caustic monitory gnome; 'Dunces, Learn here to spell Humanity!' And yet within these ruins' very shade The singing workmen shape and set and join Their frail new mansion's stuccoed cove and quoin With no apparent sense that years abrade, Though each rent wall their feeble works invade Once shamed all such in power of pier and groin. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SONG OF HIAWATHA: THE FOUR WINDS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE WITCH IN THE GLASS by SARAH MORGAN BRYAN PIATT YEARS OF THE MODERN by WALT WHITMAN MOON AND VENUS by ABUL MUGHIRA ON THE EPHEMERALNESS OF BEAUTY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS |