Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ROMAN RUINS, by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES


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ROMAN RUINS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: How could rome live so long, and now be dead?
Last Line: Little to please, and nought to bless mankind.
Alternate Author Name(s): Houghton, 1st Baron; Houghton, Lord
Subject(s): Rome, Italy; Ruins


How could Rome live so long, and now be dead?
How came this waste and wilderness of stones?
How shows the orbed monster, so long fed
On martyr-blood, his bare and crumbling bones?
Did the strong Faith, that built eight hundred years
Of world-dominion on a robber's name,
Once animate this corse, and fervent seers
Augur it endless life and shadeless fame?
Stranger! if thou a docile heart dost bring
Within thee, bear a timely precept hence;
That Power, mere Power, is but a barren thing,
Even when it seems most like omnipotence;
The forms must pass, -- and past, they leave behind
Little to please, and nought to bless mankind.





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