"GREAT father Alighieri, if from the skies This thy disciple prostrate thou dost see Before thy gravestone, shaken with deep sighs, O turn thou not in wrathfulness from me! O of thy kindness, favouring pure desires, Illuminate me with a ray of thine; Must who to pristine, deathless fame aspires Take arms 'gainst envy and each fell design?" "I did so, son, to my great sorrow, for Thereby the names of men too vile to tread Under my feet are heard for evermore. If thou dost trust in me, why droop thy head? Go thunder, triumph, and if thou shouldst chance To meet with such, pass by nor deign a glance." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MONODY ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM MARION REEDY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THINGS ARE WHAT THEY SEEM by MARIANNE MOORE OF JACOPO DEL SELLAIO by EZRA POUND HOOKS AND EYES by KAREN SWENSON THE PLAYERS ASK FOR A BLESSING ON THE PSALTERIES AND ON THEMSELVES by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS |