Classic Poem

He falls, he falls, the great god falls at last!
Like fate inevitable, silent, slow,
Stealing from waste to rock, from rock to snow,
The shadow of the earth to heaven is cast;
To what new regions dost thou hie so fast,
Thou witHeternal glory in thy train?
Great King of heaven, ere thou come again
What way will those thy shining feet have passed?

Thou seest now where ruined Trebizond
Weeps by the laughing sea: and that New Rome
Mourns in her bondage, sadder than the old;
And aisle by aisle the faithful waves enfold
The bones that once were Hellas, and beyond
Follow my heart, oh follow heart forlorn,
To where beyond the ocean breaks the morn
Along the happy headlands of my home!