I LIT upon the graveyard of dead creeds In wistful wanderings through old wastes of thought, Where bristled fennish fungi, fruiting nought, Amid the sepulchres begirt with weeds, Which stone by stone recorded sanct, deceased Catholicons that had, in centuries flown, Physicked created man through his long groan, Ere they went under, all their potence ceased. When in a breath-while, lo, their spectres rose Like wakened winds that autumn summons up: -- "Out of us cometh an heir, that shall disclose New promise!" cried they. "And the caustic cup We ignorantly upheld to men, be filled With draughts more pure than those we ever distilled, That shall make tolerable to sentient seers The melancholy marching of the years." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A YOUNG BEAUTY by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE REVEILLE by FRANCIS BRET HARTE PROSOPOPOIA, OR MOTHER HUBBERDS TALE by EDMUND SPENSER DANUBE AND THE EUXINE by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN ON THE MASSACRE by CHAIM NACHMAN BIALIK |