Classic Poem

Sun-steeped translucent marble and, beyond,
Pale marble hills of amethyst and rose
Above the shadowy olive-grove that shows
A sea-green shimmer, like a tide-left pond
Of brackish waters under the pale blue sky
Of the unclouded noon of Thessaly;
And over that pallid land and pallid sea
Obliviously the sultry hours drift by —
Drift by in sun-steeped and translucent dream,
Till suddenly a sea-gull's strident scream
Stabs through my sense, and once again I ride
In a little coble the dark tossing tide
Of glancing, shivering Northern seas, a boy
Chanting to that dark sky the tale of Troy.