Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON A LEAF FROM THE TOMB OF VIRGIL, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON A LEAF FROM THE TOMB OF VIRGIL, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: And was thy home, pale withered thing
Last Line: Like his whose dust hath made that spot a shrine?
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Graves; Virgil (70-19 B.c.); Tombs; Tombstones; Vergil


AND was thy home, pale withered thing,
Beneath the rich blue southern sky?
Wert thou a nursling of the spring,
The winds and suns of glorious Italy?

Those suns in golden light e'en now,
Look o'er the poet's lovely grave;
Those winds are breathing soft, but thou
Answering their whisper, there no more shalt wave.

The flowers o'er Posilippo's brow
May cluster in their purple bloom,
But on the o'ershadowing ilex-bough,
Thy breezy place is void by Virgil's tomb.

Thy place is void; oh! none on earth,
This crowded earth, may so remain,
Save that which souls of loftiest birth
Leave when they part, their brighter home to gain.

Another leaf, ere now, hath sprung
On the green stem which once was thine;
When shall another strain be sung
Like his whose dust hath made that spot a shrine?





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