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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WHERE ILIUM WAS PROUD by WILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY

First Line: ALONG THE SANDS WHERE ILIUM WAS PROUD
Last Line: ONLY A DEATHLESS TALE IN POETS' MOUTHS.
Subject(s): HELEN OF TROY; HOMER (10TH CENTURY B.C.); MYTHOLOGY; MYTHOLOGY - CLASSICAL; POETRY & POETS; PRIDE; ILIAD; ODYSSEY; SELF-ESTEEM; SELF-RESPECT;

Along the sands where Ilium was proud
A crimson laurel bush, that draws, perhaps,
From Priam's ancient buried house its blood,
Sprinkles with flame the unbeholding waste
In luxury of summer-hearted bliss.
Ah, better so its given years to burn
Unseen of maidens and young warriors
Than, plucked untimely, to have flushed an hour
The white of Helen's bosom on a night
When Paris leaned across the lights and laughter
To drink her up with hot, unmanly eyes.
Its crimson, fading with the dawn, had been
Only a deathless tale in poets' mouths.



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