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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IF HOPE OF A LAUREL by RAYMOND DE LA TAILHDE

First Line: IF HOPE OF A LAUREL OF UNDISCOVERED GROWTH
Last Line: WITH EAGLE-THUNDERINGS REKINDLED FRANCE.
Subject(s): APOLLO; FRANCE; LAURELS; MYTHOLOGY - CLASSICAL;

If hope of a laurel of undiscovered growth,
O lyre, wakes you wholly when I sing,
Still shall I remember my due troth
To those of whom I pluck the olden string.

When Phœbus with his long and fiery spears
Flames behind a hillock, forest-browed,
It is a potent sun that still appears
In the crest of an oak tree, mantled with a cloud.

Thus, noble lyre, as of old you soared,
From age to age, as deft hands swept the chord
More golden and more glorious your chants.

And that I may be with the Muses blent
Ronsard, guiding the flame Apollo sent,
With eagle-thunderings rekindled France.



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