Helen's lips are drifting dust; Ilion is consumed with rust; All the galleons of Greece Drink the ocean's dreamless peace; Lost was Solomon's purple show Restless centuries ago; Stately empires wax and wane -- Babylon, Barbary, and Spain; -- Only one thing, undefaced, Lasts, though all the worlds lie waste And the heavens are overturned. Dear, how long ago we learned! There's a sight that blinds the sun, Sound that lives when sounds are done, Music that rebukes the birds, Language lovelier than words, Hue and scent that shame the rose, Wine no earthly vineyard knows, Silence stiller than the shore Swept by Charon's stealthy oar, Ocean more divinely free Than Pacific's boundless sea, -- Ye who love have learned it true. Dear, how long ago we knew! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INTELLECT by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE NEED OF BEING VERSED IN COUNTRY THINGS by ROBERT FROST TO ONE IN PARADISE by EDGAR ALLAN POE THE LOST WAR-SLOOP by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR EPIGRAM by DECIMUS MAGNUS AUSONIUS CAELIA: SONNETS: 2 by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |