THE knell that dooms the voiceless and obscure Stills Memnon's music with its ghostly chime; Strength is as weakness in the clasp of Time, And for the things that were there is no cure. The vineyard with its fair investiture, The mountain summit with its hoary rime, The throne of Caesar, Cheops' tomb sublime, Alike decay, and only dreams endure. Dreams for Assyria her worship won, And India is hallowed by her dreams; The Sphinx with deathless visage views the race That like the lotus of a summer seems; And, rudderless immortally sails on The winged Victory of Samothrace. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RHODORA: ON BEING ASKED, WHENCE IS THE FLOWER? by RALPH WALDO EMERSON NEUTRALITY LOATHSOME by ROBERT HERRICK GIVE ME THE SPLENDID SILENT SUN by WALT WHITMAN CARN A-TURNEN YOLLER by WILLIAM BARNES BRIEF LIFE by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE GRAVE-YARD by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD |