Paul Scarron (1610–1660)

Translated by R. H.
(London Magazine, 1820)

YE monuments of human power and pride!

Ye pyramids and tombs of structure vain!

In you Art triumphs, human toils and pain

Have vanquished Nature and her power defied—

Ye temples vast that ruins still abide,

And thou, last pledge of Rome’s imperial reign,

Bold Coliseum! red with many a stain,

Where Romans shouted while their victims died—

Time’s hand shall drag you from your high estate,

Nor of your boasted pride a vestige leave;—

If marble then must yield its strength to fate,

Oh, let me not with thankless bosom grieve,

If my black doublet, now of three years date,

Shows my bare elbow through the ragged sleeve.