Giants and demi-gods who once

Were dwellers of the earth and sea,

And they who from Deucalion's stones,

Rose men without an infancy;

[29]

Beings on whose majestic lids

Time's solemn secrets seemed to dwell,

Tritons and pale-limbed Nereids,

And forms of heaven and hell.

Some who were heroes long of yore,

When the great world was hale and young;

And some whose marble lips yet pour

The murmur of an antique tongue;

Sad queens, whose names are like soft moans,

Whose griefs were written up in gold;

And some who on their silver thrones

Were goddesses of old.

As if I had been dead indeed,

And come into some after-land,

I saw them pass me, and take heed,

 Prev. P 32/70 next