Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MY TEMPLE, by NICOLAI MAKSIMOVICH VILENKIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MY TEMPLE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Who rears a temple, rears two monuments
Last Line: And in their vanguard death, who shall prevail.
Alternate Author Name(s): Minsky, N.; Minsky, Nicolai Maksimovich
Subject(s): Churches; Death; Temples; Cathedrals; Dead, The; Mosques


Who rears a temple, rears two monuments:
His own and the destroyer's. They who build
Accept Herostratos' arbitraments:
And to the torch the chisel's work is willed.
Both will stand firm before posterity,
And equal glory Fame to each will lend.
But thou, my air-domed temple, shalt not be
Mocked by the vengeance of the general end.

On an abyss of ruin is thy lease,
Thou'rt in the furnace of negation fired;
In thee the hymns of solace shall not cease:
With sorrow winged, by calm despair inspired.
Thee, legioned sufferings guard, in iron mail,
And in their vanguard Death, who shall prevail.





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