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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


NOSTALGIA by THOMAS STURGE MOORE

First Line: ALAS, O HELLAS LORN AND WHIST
Last Line: SMILES WHEN WE ASK HER WHAT SHE SAID!
Subject(s): MYTHOLOGY - CLASSICAL; NOSTALGIA;

ALAS, O Hellas lorn and whist,
Statues on culminant crags of long
Nude promontories no more list
To islands glamorous with song!

Unmatchable Acropolis,
Thou blossom rooted in mean lanes
Of small plain homes, can aught that is
Console us for thy shattered fanes?

Afar thy hardy frugal youth
That was..and dared..the heroic deed..
Thy mind on beauty fed, which truth
Could not confuse with her drugg'd mead!

Our hearts, like icebergs, drifting south,
Would strand where ruins are divine,
And, neighbour to a baked rock's drouth,
Lose form and substance, dreaming thine,

Dead land, still hugged by thy warm sea
Nymphless, unfauned, uncentaured!
Only thy Sphinx still potently
Smiles when we ask her what she said!



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