While cruel Nero only drains The moral Spaniard's ebbing veins, By study worn, and slack with age, How dull, how thoughtless is his rage! Heightened revenge he should have took; He should have burnt his tutor's book; And long have reigned supreme in vice: One nobler wretch can only rise; 'Tis he whose fury shall deface The stoic's image in this piece. For while unhurt, divine Jordain, Thy work and Seneca's remain, He still has body, still has soul, And lives and speaks, restored and whole. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SECOND OPINION by STEPHEN CUSHMAN TO AN INSECT by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES L'ENVOI: THE RETURN OF THE SIRE DE NESLE, A.D. 16 - by HERMAN MELVILLE THE NYMPH'S REPLY TO THE SHEPHERD by WALTER RALEIGH THE BROOK: AUTUMN by LAURA ABELL |