THE visionary dream of life is o'er; The bard of heroes sleeps on Ios' shore: Fair Ios' sons their lamentations pay, And wake the funeral dirge or solemn lay. O'er his pale lifeless corse and drooping head Ambrosial sweets the weeping nereids shed, And on the shore their sleeping poet laid, Beneath the towering mountain's peaceful shade. Nor undeserved their care, -- his tuneful tongue Achilles' wrath and Thetis' sorrows sung; His strains Laertes' son in triumph bore, Through woes unnumbered, to his native shore. Blest isle of Ios! On thy rocky steeps The Star of Song -- the Grace of Graces -- sleeps. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON PARTING by GEORGE GORDON BYRON TO NATURE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE SLAVE AUCTION by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER THE DEPARTURE OF THE GOOD DAEMON by ROBERT HERRICK TO GIOVANNI DA PISTOIA ON THE PAINTING OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL, 1509 by MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI |