James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
July 17Leconte de Lisle
By Edmund Gosse (18491928)
H
As those that deck the marble Phidian frieze.
Over his plaintive hearse to-night is flying
A phantom genius from the Cyclades.
And then will bear him in its arms away
To islands cinctured by the sun, their lover,
And spicy woodlands thrilled with fiery day.
There all he loved, simple and calm and grand—
All the white creatures by his Muse begotten—
Shall cluster round him in a stately band.
Contented that he strove and waited long,
Since in these worlds where loveliness is duty
His bronze and marble leap to life and song.