Once more Lake Como's storied isle Reveals the Roman past! Again a stone of classic style The spade hath upward cast; How can such relics thus endure Two thousand years of sepulture? More eagerly than those who toil For nuggets of mere gold, We seize and rescue from the soil This monument of old, -- An alter-fragment, much defaced, Yet on whose surface words are traced. With reverent hands we cleanse from grime The legend chiselled there, Which now, triumphant over time, Still proves the sculptor's care, Engraved when on this wave-girt hill The Pagan gods were potent still. As on their own peculiar page The fingers of the blind Decipher truths of every age, As mind communes with mind, So, one by one, these letters spell A name the ancient world knew well. For "Delio Patri" heads the lines Inscribed upon this stone, And instantly the mind divines What, else, had been unknown, Since that familiar name makes clear Apollo once was worshipped here; Perhaps because the spot suggests That other tiny isle, Upon whose shore forever rests The Sun-God's tender smile, -- Fair Delos, where, one fabled morn, Both he and Artemis were born. Beneath, the donor's name is placed, And lower still we read In characters, now half effaced, The motive for his deed; -- "Onesimus this altar reared To One he gratefully revered." Faith, grateful reverence, -- these are traits Worth more than rank or fame, And what this brief inscription states Does honor to his name, And makes us wish still more to know Of him who built here long ago. "And is this all?" the cynic sneers, "The remnant of a shrine?" Alas for him who never hears Or heeds the world divine And in this fragment fails to see A stepping-stone to Deity! . . . . . . . . The Sun-God's shrines in ruins lie, But not the glorious sun! A thousand transient faiths may die, All prototypes of One, Since under every form and name Their essence still remains the same. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WORLD AS WILL AND REPRESENTATION' by HAYDEN CARRUTH FOR REMEMBERING HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT YOU by JAMES GALVIN RECOMPENSE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON MARJORIE'S WOOING by EMMA LAZARUS DISMAL MOMENT PASSING by CLARENCE MAJOR SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JOHN CABANIS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: REV. LEMUEL WILEY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |