So now the very bones of you are gone Where they were dust and ashes long ago And there was the last ribbon you tied on To bind your hair, and that is dust also; And somewhere there is dust that was of old A soft and scented garment that you wore-- The same that once till dawn did closely fold You in with fair Charaxus, fair no more. But Sappho, and the white leaves of her song, Will make your name a word for all to learn, And all to love thereafter, even while It's but a name; and this will be as long As there are distant ships that will return Again to Naucratis and to the Nile. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JAMES GARBER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE INCOGNITA OF RAPHAEL by WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER THE COMMON LOT by JAMES MONTGOMERY FABLE; ROME, 1875 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A SERIOUS REFLECTION ON HUMAN LIFE, SELECTION by HENRY BAKER ON THE DEATH OF AN OLD TOWNSMAN by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD THE RING AND THE BOOK: BOOK 12. THE BOOK AND THE RING by ROBERT BROWNING |