Poems; original and translated by Charles Rann Kennedy ... and Two Poems by the Rev. Rann Kennedy. New Edition. By Charles Rann Kennedy |
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FAME. |
 | Poems; original and translated |  |
FAME.
“Mine shall all monuments surpass,”
The poet cries, as Flaccus did;
“One have I built more firm than brass,
And higher than the pyramid.”
The poet cries, as Flaccus did;
“One have I built more firm than brass,
And higher than the pyramid.”
Vain mortal! Thou among the dead
In cold oblivion shalt lie:
The epitaph thou shalt not read,
That speaks thy praise to passers by.
In cold oblivion shalt lie:
The epitaph thou shalt not read,
That speaks thy praise to passers by.
Perchance thy glories Fame may bear
From north to south, from east to west;
But thou her voice shalt never hear;
Its echoes ne'er shall break thy rest.
From north to south, from east to west;
But thou her voice shalt never hear;
Its echoes ne'er shall break thy rest.
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Perhaps thy name will be forgot;
Or it may float upon the wind
Unto an ear that heeds it not,
And leave no kindred thought behind.
Or it may float upon the wind
Unto an ear that heeds it not,
And leave no kindred thought behind.
Forgotten is Pythagoras
With all his mystic treasur'd lore;
And many a sage, that mighty was
In olden time, is known no more:
With all his mystic treasur'd lore;
And many a sage, that mighty was
In olden time, is known no more:
Or if to us their names endure,
We strive in vain their forms to see;
Like shadows thro' the dim obscure,
They vanish at our scrutiny.
We strive in vain their forms to see;
Like shadows thro' the dim obscure,
They vanish at our scrutiny.
Poets there were before the flood,
Before our tribe on earth had place;
They wrote on parchment, stone, or wood;
Yet what of them is now the trace?
Before our tribe on earth had place;
They wrote on parchment, stone, or wood;
Yet what of them is now the trace?
Whate'er they left in prose or rhyme
Hath been the mighty Spoiler's prey,
The true, the beauteous, the sublime,
With land and ocean swept away.
Hath been the mighty Spoiler's prey,
The true, the beauteous, the sublime,
With land and ocean swept away.
Some earth-encrusted behemoth
The wreck of ages yet survives;
Writer and book have perish'd both;
An ichthyosaurus both outlives.
The wreck of ages yet survives;
Writer and book have perish'd both;
An ichthyosaurus both outlives.
| Poems; original and translated | |