You who look on passed ages as a glass To shadow forth the future, in your home Peacefully dwelling little heeding some But loving many; as the visions pass Turn from them for a moment to the grass And solemn sun & blue o'erarching dome And in the hush of nature think on Rome Not as it is now but as it once was. As of the mighty dead think without hope But if you will indulge a hopeful pile Yea if you will write about it in rhyme For if it once had a too mighty scope To be all as the sun fails not to smile It shall be nothing to the end of time. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY PRETTY ROSE TREE, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE THE CRUEL MISTRESS by THOMAS CAREW IN HOSPITAL: 21. ROMANCE by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY IN EARLIEST SPRING by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: DAISY FRASER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS ECHO by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI WESTERN MORNING by WILLIMINA L. ARMSTRONG |