Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.

To My Tortoise [Anagki]

Eugene Lee-Hamilton (1845–1907)

SAY it were true that thou outliv’st us all,

O footstool once of Venus; come, renew

Thy tale of old Greek isles, where thy youth grew

In myrtle shadow, near her temple wall;

Or tell me how the eagle let thee fall

Upon the Greek bard’s head from heaven’s blue,

And Apathy killed Song. And is it true

That thy domed shell would bear a huge stone ball?

O Tortoise, Tortoise, there are weights, alack!

Heavier than stone, and viewless as the air,

Which none have ever tried upon thy back;

Which, ever and anon, we men must bear—

Weights which would make thy solid cover crack

And how we bear them, let those ask who care!