Classic Poem

This monument will outlast metal and I made it
More durable than the king's seat, higher than pyramids.
Gnaw of the wind and rain?
Impotent
The flow of the years to break it, however many.
Bits of me, many bits, will dodge all funeral,
O Libitina-Persephone and, after that,
Sprout new praise. As long as
Pontifex and the quiet girl pace the Capitol
I shall be spoken where the wild flood Aufidus
Lashes, and Daunus ruled the parched farmland:
Power from lowliness: ‘First brought Aeolic song to Italian fashion’—
Wear pride, work's gain! O Muse Melpomene,
By your will bind the laurel.
My hair, Delphic laurel.