While cruel Nero only drains The moral Spaniard's ebbing veins, By study worn, and slack with age, How dull, how thoughtless is his rage! Heightened revenge he should have took; He should have burnt his tutor's book; And long have reigned supreme in vice: One nobler wretch can only rise; 'Tis he whose fury shall deface The stoic's image in this piece. For while unhurt, divine Jordain, Thy work and Seneca's remain, He still has body, still has soul, And lives and speaks, restored and whole. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE INFLATION OF THE CURRENCY, 1919 by ROBERT FROST CHAMBER MUSIC: 11 by JAMES JOYCE HATCHING; FOR DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI by KAREN SWENSON TO THE SHADE OF PO CHU-I by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS MERCILES BEAUTE; A TRIPLE ROUNDEL: 3. ESCAPE by GEOFFREY CHAUCER TO MY HONORED FRIEND SIR ROBERT HOWARD by JOHN DRYDEN THE CLOSING SCENE by THOMAS BUCHANAN READ |