Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LOVE TRIUMPHANT, by FREDERIC LAWRENCE KNOWLES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LOVE TRIUMPHANT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Helen's lips are drifting dust
Last Line: Dear, how long ago we knew!
Alternate Author Name(s): Paget, R. L.
Subject(s): Helen Of Troy; Love; Mythology - Classical


Helen's lips are drifting dust;
Ilion is consumed with rust;
All the galleons of Greece
Drink the ocean's dreamless peace;
Lost was Solomon's purple show
Restless centuries ago;
Stately empires wax and wane --
Babylon, Barbary, and Spain; --
Only one thing, undefaced,
Lasts, though all the worlds lie waste
And the heavens are overturned.
Dear, how long ago we learned!

There's a sight that blinds the sun,
Sound that lives when sounds are done,
Music that rebukes the birds,
Language lovelier than words,
Hue and scent that shame the rose,
Wine no earthly vineyard knows,
Silence stiller than the shore
Swept by Charon's stealthy oar,
Ocean more divinely free
Than Pacific's boundless sea, --
Ye who love have learned it true.
Dear, how long ago we knew!








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