How could Rome live so long, and now be dead? How came this waste and wilderness of stones? How shows the orbed monster, so long fed On martyr-blood, his bare and crumbling bones? Did the strong Faith, that built eight hundred years Of world-dominion on a robber's name, Once animate this corse, and fervent seers Augur it endless life and shadeless fame? Stranger! if thou a docile heart dost bring Within thee, bear a timely precept hence; That Power, mere Power, is but a barren thing, Even when it seems most like omnipotence; The forms @3must@1 pass, -- and past, they leave behind Little to please, and nought to bless mankind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET: 66 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 2. ON THE WINTER SOLSTICE, 1740 by MARK AKENSIDE WEAVERS ALL by MINNIE KEITH BAILEY THE STEAM-ENGINE: CANTO 7. LESSON FOR THE PROUD by T. BAKER BROADWAY by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |