Time & Brevity
Ruines of Rome: XXV
Edmund Spenser (Complaints, 1591) · From Ruines of Rome (Les Antiquitez de Rome)
O that I had the Thracian poets harpe,
For to awake out of th’infernall shade
Those antique Caesars, sleeping long in darke,
The which this auncient citie whilome made!
Or that I had Amphions instrument,
To quicken with his vitall notes accord
The stonie ioynts of these old walls now rent,
By which th’Ausonian light might be restor’d!
Or that at least I could with pencill fine
Fashion the pourtraicts of these palacis,
By paterne of great Virgils spirit divine!
I would assay with that which in me is
To builde, with levell of my loftie style,
That which no hands can evermore compyle.
Cite this poem
MLA
Bellay, Joachim du. “Ruines of Rome: XXV.” Translated by Edmund Spenser. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/du-bellay/24/.
Chicago
Bellay, Joachim du. “Ruines of Rome: XXV.” Translated by Edmund Spenser. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/du-bellay/24/.
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