Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AT POMPEII, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AT POMPEII, by                    
First Line: In sunless depths of old pompeian halls
Last Line: To naught would fall the shapes of sainted dread.
Subject(s): Pompeii, Italy


In sunless depths of old Pompeian halls,
In pose of life among the pictured walls
Were human bodies found, unchanged in mold
Since Grace was shocked to stillness, meeting Death.
A ray, a motion of the new life's breath,—
To dust they fell, a heap of ashes cold.

Within our hearts are secret crypts which hide
Grief-forms unchanged through years. They still abide
As things of life, these hopes and dreams long dead.
If but to-day's sharp lights were bravely thrown
Upon those figures time-enshrined and lone,
To naught would fall the shapes of sainted dread.





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