What essences from Idumean palm, What ambergris, what sacerdotal wine, What Arab myrrh, what spikenard would be thine, If I could swathe thy memory in such balm! Oh, for wrecked gold, from depths for ever calm, To fashion for thy name a fretted shrine; Oh, for strange gems, still locked in virgin mine, To stud the pyx, where thought would bring sweet psalm! I have but this small rosary of rhyme, -- No rubies but heart's drops, no pearls but tears, To lay upon the altar of thy name, O Mimma Bella; -- on the shrine that Time Makes ever holier for the soul, while years Obliterate the rolls of human fame. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...KATHMANDU GUEST HOUSE by KAREN SWENSON SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER THE BLACK RIDERS: 1 by STEPHEN CRANE REVELATION by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE TRANSFORMATIONS by THOMAS HARDY HYMN OF PAN by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY RHENISH AUTUMN; TO TOUSSAINT LUCA by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE |