"Here lies one whose name was writ on water." BEYOND the wall that belts the town, Where grand Saint Peter's titan crown Looks apostolically down; With shrunken form and shrouded lid, The Song Bird—not the Song—is hid Near Caius Cestius' pyramid. There purer from his Roman pyre, The star-eyed Skylark of the Choir Slumbers, a radiant Child of Fire! Twin bards—twin death! no slander parts, With livid tongue and venomed darts, The Soul of Souls and "Heart of Hearts." The coheirs of porphyrogene, Their dreams are royal and serene Beneath the night's sweet sibyl queen. Methinks their sad song sadly calls From every breeze that swells and falls Along the Coliseum's halls. And that sad song shall murmur there, Upon the pulses of the air, With incense-wings of warbled prayer. And it shall sigh and fondly flit When dome and tomb are bright moonlit, O'er him whose name was water-writ. 'Twas writ on water, but the wave That surges from a hallowed grave Is not old Ocean's liquid slave. 'Tis the tumultuous Sea of Song— The Scroll of the Anointed Throng To whom eternities belong! Thy name, great Keats, had water-birth, And now, in its majestic worth, It heaves its billows over earth! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MAGDALEN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SICILIAN EMIGRANT'S SONG by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS FIVE SOULS by WILLIAM NORMAN EWER SONNET: TO DANTE by GUIDO CAVALCANTI THE VOYAGE by CAROLINE ATHERTON BRIGGS MASON GLORY OF WOMEN by SIEGFRIED SASSOON FIELD AMBULANCE IN RETREAT; VIA DOLOROSA, VIA SACRA by MAY SINCLAIR |