His piercing and eternal cadence rings Too pure for us -- too powerfully pure, Too lovingly triumphant, and too large;But there are some that hear him, and they know That he shall sing to-morrow for all men, And that all time shall listen.
The master-songs are ended? Rather say No songs are ended that are ever sung, And that no names are dead names.When we write Men's letters on proud marble or on sand, We write them there forever.
The Chorus of Old Men in "Aegeus"
Ye gods that have a home beyond the world, Ye that have eyes for all man's agony, Ye that have seen this woe that we have seen, --Look with a just regard, And with an even grace, Here on the shattered corpse of a shattered king, Here on a suffering world where men grow old And wander like sad shadows till, at last, Out of the flare of life, Out of the whirl of years, Into the mist they go, Into the mist of death.
O shades of you that loved him long before The cruel threads of that black sail were spun, May loyal arms and ancient welcomings Receive him once again Who now no longer moves Here in this flickering dance of changing days, Where a battle is lost and won for a withered wreath, And the black master Death is over all, To chill with his approach, To level with his touch, The reigning strength of youth, The fluttered heart of age.
Woe for the fateful day when Delphi's word was lost --Woe for the loveless prince of Aethra's line!
Woe for a father's tears and the curse of a king's release --Woe for the wings of pride and the shafts of doom! --And thou, the saddest wind That ever blew from Crete, Sing the fell tidings back to that thrice unhappy ship! --Sing to the western flame, Sing to the dying foam, A dirge for the sundered years and a dirge for the years to be!