I READ the classic book -- and raised mine eye To where, with sun-tipped spears, went by A great, armed host. The splendid roads were thronged With all the trappings that to war belonged. Next, I beheld how figures stately, slow, With filleted calm brows drew past; and lo, A temple white, within whose pillared porch I saw the sacred fires leap like a torch. While sharp against the saffron-colored sea (How it comes back to musing memory!) Swayed to and fro the swollen tides of folk, The hewers and the builders at their work. High from a hill, swept sounds of song that fell Upon the city like a miracle; The feet of heroes, like as rhyme to rhyme, Fell into harmony and kept march time. * * * * * * * * * All this I saw. Still rule the spirit these Enshrined shapes from out the centuries; Still cry along a sky that seems their home The conquering eagles of imperial Rome! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NATURE'S QUESTIONING by THOMAS HARDY THE CAT OF CATS by WILLIAM BRIGHTY RANDS SEADRIFT by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH FIDELIA ARGUING WITH HER SELF ON THE DIFFICULTY FINDING TRUE RELIGION by JANE BARKER |