Roman rhymes : being Winter Work for a Summer Fair Newport, R. I., August 27, 1869 |
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| 5. | V.
AN O'ER TRUE TALE. |
 | Roman rhymes : being Winter Work for a Summer Fair |  |
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V.
AN O'ER TRUE TALE.
“ALL WHICH I SAW, AND PART OF WHICH I WAS.”
A lovely day hung over ancient Rome:
Enrapt I stood, and said:
“Methinks the spirits of the mighty dead
On such a day might have revisited
Their august home.”
But if they had,—ah me!
It would have been to see
Such deeds as ne'er were done
When Vandal, Goth, and Hun,
With fire and sword
Down on the beauteous city poured;
As might have tempted the unblushing sun,
For once with shame made red,
To hide his awful head,
Or hurry backward to his ocean-bed.
Enrapt I stood, and said:
“Methinks the spirits of the mighty dead
On such a day might have revisited
Their august home.”
But if they had,—ah me!
It would have been to see
Such deeds as ne'er were done
When Vandal, Goth, and Hun,
With fire and sword
Down on the beauteous city poured;
As might have tempted the unblushing sun,
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To hide his awful head,
Or hurry backward to his ocean-bed.
I stood on holy ground,
Within the Forum's bound,
Where Brutus stood, who could no traitor brook,
And Cicero the spell-bound Senate shook.
But hist! around yon marble slab
What solemn conclave stands in close confab?
With wonder and with awe
One like a priest I saw.
And lady fair,
And man of law, were there.
Why meet they on that temple floor,
Temple of Concord named of yore!
Will they survey and then restore the place
In all its past magnificence and grace?
Or will they haply on the sacred floor
Libations to the goddess Silence pour?
Oh, woe! it is a foul conspiracy
As ever night did see!
I look again, and they are gone!
Was it a dream that fooled my spell-bound eyes?
Ah, no! dead stones have tongues that tell no lies.
Behold! that broken stone,
With its cracked lips, doth mutely speak, and say,
In tones too awful for a modern lay:
“Stealers of stone! profane
Diggers in sacred dust! in vain
Shall ye one day call rocks to cover you
From Heaven's avenging view!
Ye that climb up some other way, in vain
The heaven of a peaceful mind would gain!
Go, have the sacred marbles wrought
(Which ye by stealth have brought
Beneath your cloaks and other dresses
Wherewith ye sought to cloke your wickednesses)
Into the shape of hearts, fit types to be
Of your own marble hearts eternally,
Ye temple-thieves, whose crime
No prose nor rhyme
Is adequate to state,”—
Not mine at any rate.
Within the Forum's bound,
Where Brutus stood, who could no traitor brook,
And Cicero the spell-bound Senate shook.
But hist! around yon marble slab
What solemn conclave stands in close confab?
With wonder and with awe
One like a priest I saw.
And lady fair,
And man of law, were there.
Why meet they on that temple floor,
Temple of Concord named of yore!
Will they survey and then restore the place
In all its past magnificence and grace?
Or will they haply on the sacred floor
Libations to the goddess Silence pour?
Oh, woe! it is a foul conspiracy
As ever night did see!
36
Was it a dream that fooled my spell-bound eyes?
Ah, no! dead stones have tongues that tell no lies.
Behold! that broken stone,
With its cracked lips, doth mutely speak, and say,
In tones too awful for a modern lay:
“Stealers of stone! profane
Diggers in sacred dust! in vain
Shall ye one day call rocks to cover you
From Heaven's avenging view!
Ye that climb up some other way, in vain
The heaven of a peaceful mind would gain!
Go, have the sacred marbles wrought
(Which ye by stealth have brought
Beneath your cloaks and other dresses
Wherewith ye sought to cloke your wickednesses)
Into the shape of hearts, fit types to be
Of your own marble hearts eternally,
Ye temple-thieves, whose crime
No prose nor rhyme
Is adequate to state,”—
Not mine at any rate.
| Roman rhymes : being Winter Work for a Summer Fair | |