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Home  »  A Collection of Verse by California Poets  »  The Grave of Pompey

Augustin S. Macdonald, comp. A Collection of Verse by California Poets. 1914.

By Sister Anthony, S.N.D.

The Grave of Pompey

A WAVE-SCARRED rock beside a stranger sea,

The rugged sculpture of a fettered hand,

A Name, rude lettering from a smoking brand.

“Magnus!” Sublime its silent mockery.

And this the End! The triumph car, the train

Of weary captives and the clamorous throng

Up the broad streets; the Senate’s proud acclaim;

The storied Column, writ with woe and wrong;

The breathing marble, and the drooping bay,

And the last heart-throes of the Nation’s pain,

This, this the End! Come ye who look to Fame

Come, Pride of Power, and gaze on Destiny,

Only the drifting of the desert sand,

Only the moan of the eternal Sea.