Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By James ErnestNesmith

1450 The Statue of Lorenzo de’ Medici

MARK me how still I am!—The sound of feet

Unnumbered echoing through this vaulted hall,

Or voices harsh, on me unheeded fall,

Placed high in my memorial niche and seat,

In cold and marble meditation meet

Among proud tombs and pomp funereal

Of rich sarcophagi and sculptured wall,—

In death’s elaborate elect retreat.

I was a Prince,—this monument was wrought

That I in honor might eternal stand;

In vain, subdued by Buonarroti’s hand,

The conscious stone is pregnant with his thought;

He to this brooding rock his fame devised,

And he, not I, is here immortalized.