Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AT POMPEII by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL

First Line: IN SUNLESS DEPTHS OF OLD POMPEIAN HALLS
Last Line: TO NAUGHT WOULD FALL THE SHAPES OF SAINTED DREAD.
Subject(s): POMPEII, ITALY;

In sunless depths of old Pompeian halls,
In pose of life among the pictured walls
Were human bodies found, unchanged in mold
Since Grace was shocked to stillness, meeting Death.
A ray, a motion of the new life's breath,—
To dust they fell, a heap of ashes cold.

Within our hearts are secret crypts which hide
Grief-forms unchanged through years. They still abide
As things of life, these hopes and dreams long dead.
If but to-day's sharp lights were bravely thrown
Upon those figures time-enshrined and lone,
To naught would fall the shapes of sainted dread.



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