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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT: 1. THE DRYAD WELCOMES HIM by HANIEL (CLARK) LONG

Poet Analysis

First Line: CITIES WHICH KNEW YOU SHALL KNOW YOU NO MORE
Last Line: TO THE GODS OF THE SKY AND THE GROUND.
Subject(s): ALEXANDER THE GREAT (356-323 B.C.);

Cities which knew you shall know you no more:
Come, to new intimacies;
Dream as the wisest of men dreamed before -
Stay and be safe on this magical shore;
Stay, and be lovely with trees.

Elephants dance here, stately and slow,
On the fourteenth night of the moon;
Children and emperors ride to and fro
With princesses swarthy and whiter than snow,
And boys like the sun at its noon.

Stay, and be young with the blossoms of May;
Stay, and be violet-crowned;
For youth's a libation the world throws away,
But here you may offer it day after day
To the gods of the sky and the ground.



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