Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LATIN TONGUE, by JAMES J. DALY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LATIN TONGUE, by                    
First Line: Like a loud-booming bell shaking its tower
Last Line: Ran straight for comfort up to god.
Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary


Like a loud-booming bell shaking its tower
Of granite blocks, the antique Latin tongue
Shook the whole earth; over all seas it flung
Triremes of war, and bade grim legions scour
The world's far verges. Its imperial dower
Made Tullius a god; and Flaccus strung
Its phrases into garlands; while among
The high enchanters it gave Maro power.

Then Latin lost its purple pomp of war,
Its wine-veined laughter and patrician tears;
It cast its fleshly grossness, won a soul,
And trafficked far beyond the farthest star
With angel-cohorts, echoing through the years
In sacred Embassies from pole to pole.
Her safely downward to the ledge
Or whether you renew your pledge,
Daring the alien quest again --
Something of her is freed by pain:
Something of her that slipped and fell
Past you and the others into Hell --
And something else that, ether-shod,
Ran straight for comfort up to God.





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