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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SALVINE by ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON

First Line: DEAD IS OLD GREECE,' THEY MOURNED ERE YET AROSE
Last Line: THE MYTH OF JOVE TOOK RISE FROM LESSER MAJESTY.
Subject(s): GREECE; GREEKS;

"DEAD is old Greece," they mourned ere yet arose
This Greek -- this oak of old Achaian graft
Seed-sown where westward tempests wept and laughed,
As now when some great gust of heaven blows
From lair levantine. How the giant grows! --
Not to lone ruin of a withered shaft,
But quaffing life in every leafy draught, --
Fathered by Storm and mothered by Repose.

Nay, doubt the Greeks are gone till, this green crest
In splendor fallen, round the wrack shall be
Prolonged, like memories of a noble guest,
The phantom glory of the actor's day.
Then, musing on Olympus, men shall say
The myth of Jove took rise from lesser majesty.



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