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Home  »  Collected Poems by Robinson, Edwin Arlington  »  9. Villanelle of Change

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935). Collected Poems. 1921.

II. The Children of the Night

9. Villanelle of Change

SINCE Persia fell at Marathon,

The yellow years have gathered fast:

Long centuries have come and gone.

And yet (they say) the place will don

A phantom fury of the past,

Since Persia fell at Marathon;

And as of old, when Helicon

Trembled and swayed with rapture vast

(Long centuries have come and gone),

This ancient plain, when night comes on,

Shakes to a ghostly battle-blast,

Since Persia fell at Marathon.

But into soundless Acheron

The glory of Greek shame was cast:

Long centuries have come and gone,

The suns of Hellas have all shone,

The first has fallen to the last:—

Since Persia fell at Marathon,

Long centuries have come and gone.