THE head and hands of murdered Cicero, Above his seat high in the Forum hung, Drew jeers and burning tears. When on the rung Of a swift-mounted ladder, all aglow, Fulvia, Mark Antony's shameless wife, with show Of foot firm-poised and gleaming arm upflung, Bade her sharp needle pierce that god-like tongue Whose speech fed Rome even as the Tiber's flow. And thou, Cleopartra's Needle, that hadst thrid Great skirts of Time ere she and Antony hid Dead hope!--hast thou too reached, surviving death, A city of sweet speech scorned,--on whose chill stone Keats withered, Coleridge pined, and Chatterton, Breadless, with poison froze the God-fired breath? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRELUDE TO A FAIRY TALE by EDITH SITWELL A SONG [OF DIVINE LOVE] by RICHARD CRASHAW AT THE TAVERN by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR PUCK AND THE FAIRY, FR. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE SUMMER'S JOE by PATRICK JOHN MCALISTER ANDERSON A CAUTION TO POETS by MATTHEW ARNOLD |