Were I but there and none to hear
I’d have a peacock cry
For that is natural to a man
That lives in memory,
Being all alone I’d nurse a stone
And sing it lullaby.
The Three Monuments
They hold their public meetings where
Our most renowned patriots stand,
One among the birds of the air,
A stumpier on either hand;
And all the popular statesmen say
That purity built up the state
And after kept it from decay;
Admonish us to cling to that
And let all base ambition be,
For intellect would make us proud
And pride bring in impurity:
The three old rascals laugh aloud.
From ‘Oedipus at Colonus’
I
Endure what life God gives and ask no longer span;
Cease to remember the delights of youth, travel-wearied aged man; Cease to remember the delights of youth, travel-wearied aged man;
Delight becomes death-longing if all longing else be vain.
II
Even from that delight memory treasures so,
Death, despair, division of families, all entanglements of mankind grow,
As that old wandering beggar and these God-hated children know.
III
In the long echoing street the laughing dancers throng,
The bride is carried to the bridegroom’s chamber through torchlight and tumultuous song;
I celebrate the silent kiss that ends short life or long.