Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FACADE: 15. SAID KING POMPEY by EDITH SITWELL

Poet Analysis

First Line: SAID KING POMPEY, THE EMPEROR'S APE
Last Line: "THE FLUNKEYED AND TRUMPETING SEA!"

SAID King Pompey, the emperor's ape,
Shuddering black in his temporal cape
Of dust: "The dust is everything --
The heart to love and the voice to sing,
Indianapolis,
And the Acropolis,
Also the hairy sky that we
Take for a coverlet comfortably." . . .
Said the Bishop
Eating his ketchup --
"There still remains Eternity
(Swelling the diocese) --
That elephantiasis,
The flunkeyed and trumpeting Sea!"



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