VENICE of classic times! where dance and song And vine-crowned Bacchus chased the hours along, And young and old but lived for present joy, No thought of gloom their raptures to alloy. Now, as we walk where flowers of every bloom Once made the land a garden of perfume, And countless lyres, each sweet entrancing night, Swelled from love's temple gleaming on the height, We find but choking thorns, and grass that waves On shattered walls and long-forgotten graves. Where now, high peak, that tower'st in barren pride, The pillared fanes which once adorned thy side? Where the bronze statues glittering in the sun, Telling of deeds by Isthmian conquerors done? Ay, Paul denounced, and Mummius wrapped in flame, The cup was full, the bolt of ruin came, Mirth spread its wings, the sister Graces fled, And Corinth bowed in death her beauteous head. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HAIL TEESSIDE! by CECIL DAY LEWIS SAPPHIC SUICIDE NOTE by JAMES GALVIN IN QUEST by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON IVY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE STORM by KATHERINE MANSFIELD SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: COONEY POTTER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS VICTOR RAFOLSKI ON ART by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |