Thomas Hardy - Rome at the Pyramid of Cestius Near the Graves of Shelley and Keats (1887)

Thomas Hardy - Rome at the Pyramid of Cestius Near the Graves of Shelley and Keats (1887)

Who, then, was Cestius, br    And what is he to me? - br Amid thick thoughts and memories multitudinous br    One thought alone brings he. br br    I can recall no word br    Of anything he did; br For me he is a man who died and was interred br    To leave a pyramid br br    Whose purpose was exprest br    Not with its first design, br Nor till, far down in Time, beside it found their rest br    Two countrymen of mine. br br    Cestius in life, maybe, br    Slew, breathed out threatening; br I know not. This I know: in death all silently br    He does a kindlier thing, br br    In beckoning pilgrim feet br    With marble finger high br To where, by shadowy wall and history-haunted street, br    Those matchless singers lie . . . br br    --Say, then, he lived and died br    That stones which bear his name br Should mark, through Time, where two immortal Shades abide; br    It is an ample fame.


User: PoemHunter.com

Views: 1

Uploaded: 2014-11-07

Duration: 02:27

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