O TOMB! O nuptial chamber! O house deep-delved In earth, safe-guarded ever! To thee I come, And to my kin in thee, who many an one Are with Persephone, dead among the dead: And last of all, most miserably by far, I thither am going, ere my life's term be done. But a good hope I cherish, that, come there, My father's love will greet me, yea and thine, My mother -- and thy welcome, brother dear: Since, when ye died, I with mine own hands laved And dressed your limbs, and poured upon your graves Libations; and like service done to thee Hath brought me, Polyneices, now to this. But, if these things are pleasing to the gods, I'll freely own I suffered for my fault; If theirs the fault, who doomed me, may to them No worse befall than they unjustly do. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPIGRAM: EHEU FUGACES by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM UPON THE SAYING THAT MY VERSES WERE MADE BY ANOTHER by ANNE KILLIGREW THE GRASSHOPPER; TO MY NOBLE FRIEND MR. CHARLES COTTON by RICHARD LOVELACE PASA THALASSA THALASSA by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON ENVOI: DEATH (2) by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) THE BOAST OF THE TIDES by WILLIAM ROSE BENET BIRDS OF PASSAGE: PRELUDE by MATHILDE BLIND |