Tales in Verse for Young People By Mary Howitt: New Edition |
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ONE OF THE VANITIES OF HUMAN
WISHES. |
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 | Tales in Verse for Young People |  |
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ONE OF THE VANITIES OF HUMAN WISHES.
PUER LOQUITUR.
I wish that I myself had lived
In the ages that are gone,
Like a brother of the wandering Jew,
And yet kept living on;
In the ages that are gone,
Like a brother of the wandering Jew,
And yet kept living on;
For then, in its early glory,
I could have proudly paced
The City of the Wilderness,
Old Tadmor of the Waste:
I could have proudly paced
The City of the Wilderness,
Old Tadmor of the Waste:
And have seen the Queen of Sheba,
With her camels riding on,
With spiceries rich, and precious stones,
To great King Solomon;
With her camels riding on,
With spiceries rich, and precious stones,
To great King Solomon;
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And all the ivory palaces,
With floors of beaten gold;
And in the green, fair gardens walked
Of Babylon the old;
With floors of beaten gold;
And in the green, fair gardens walked
Of Babylon the old;
And have talked with gray Phœnicians
Of dark and solemn seas,
And heard the wild and dismal tales
Of their far voyages.
Of dark and solemn seas,
And heard the wild and dismal tales
Of their far voyages.
I could have solved all mysteries
Of Egypt old and vast,
And read each hieroglyphic scroll
From the first word to the last.
Of Egypt old and vast,
And read each hieroglyphic scroll
From the first word to the last.
I should have known what cities
In the desert wastes were hid;
And have walked as in my father's house,
Through each great pyramid.
In the desert wastes were hid;
And have walked as in my father's house,
Through each great pyramid.
I might have sat on Homer's knees,
A little prattling boy,
Hearing all he knew of Grecian tales
And the bloody work at Troy.
A little prattling boy,
Hearing all he knew of Grecian tales
And the bloody work at Troy.
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I should have seen fair Athens,
The immortal and the free,
O'erlooking with her marble walls,
The islands and the sea.
The immortal and the free,
O'erlooking with her marble walls,
The islands and the sea.
I should have seen each Naiad
That haunted rock and stream;
And walked with wisest Plato,
In the groves of Academe.
That haunted rock and stream;
And walked with wisest Plato,
In the groves of Academe.
I should have seen old Phidias,
Hewing his marble stone;
And every grave tragedian,
And every poet known.
Hewing his marble stone;
And every grave tragedian,
And every poet known.
Think what a Cicerone
I should have been, to trace
The city of the Seven Hills,
Who had known its ancient race;
I should have been, to trace
The city of the Seven Hills,
Who had known its ancient race;
Had stood by warlike Romulus
In council and in fray,
And with his horde of robbers dwelt,
In reed-roofed huts of clay!
In council and in fray,
And with his horde of robbers dwelt,
In reed-roofed huts of clay!
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Think but of Julius Cæsar,
The heroic, wise, and brave—
To have seen his legions in the field,
His galleys on the wave!
The heroic, wise, and brave—
To have seen his legions in the field,
His galleys on the wave!
Then to have sat in the Forum,
When Cicero's words grew strong;
Or at evening by the Tiber walked,
To listen Virgil's song!
When Cicero's words grew strong;
Or at evening by the Tiber walked,
To listen Virgil's song!
I should have seen Rome's glory dimmed
When round her leaguered wall,
Came down the Vandal and the Goth,
The Scythian and the Gaul;
When round her leaguered wall,
Came down the Vandal and the Goth,
The Scythian and the Gaul;
And the dwarfish Huns by myriads,
From the unknown northern shores;
As if the very earth gave up
The brown men of the moors.
From the unknown northern shores;
As if the very earth gave up
The brown men of the moors.
I should have seen old Wodin
And his seven sons go forth,
From the green banks of the Caspian Sea
To the dim wilds of the north;
And his seven sons go forth,
From the green banks of the Caspian Sea
To the dim wilds of the north;
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To the dark and piny forests,
Where he made his drear abode,
And taught his wild and fearful faith,
And thus became their god.
Where he made his drear abode,
And taught his wild and fearful faith,
And thus became their god.
And the terrible Vikingr,
Dwellers on the stormy sea,
The Norsemen and their Runic lore,
Had all been known to me!
Dwellers on the stormy sea,
The Norsemen and their Runic lore,
Had all been known to me!
Think only of the dismal tales,
Of the mysteries I should know,
If my long life had but begun
Three thousand years ago!
Of the mysteries I should know,
If my long life had but begun
Three thousand years ago!
| Tales in Verse for Young People | |