once and future glory
It can be said,
That the ruins of their palaces and our cities do not unmake a civilization,
Yet phoenix it, so these mortal minds may make what they like of the past.
These ruins that we bury are the ruins we long for:
The trembling ethereality, the wild tearing of crumbling stone and overgrown
Life that is no life, the green on gray and
The glories between, the wonders we make of the gaps in the walls,
The stoic grandeur we imagine, we fantasize.
See what beauties must have blossomed here in the cracks,
See what splendors had been inscribed on the stones,
The monuments of their towers and bridges and fallen arches, crumbling columns,
Ah, gone to nothing.
This quiet ruin is simply
The imprint of what was and what will not be,
What never can be again.
About this poem
This poem is a musing on the human fascination with ruins, whether they be of cities, kingdoms, or whole countries. Oftentimes there is a romanticization of ancient buildings, and it begs the question of why destroyed palaces, citadels, etc. seem to loom larger than they had when they still stood hale.
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Written on April 07, 2022
Submitted by victoriaztan on April 30, 2022
Modified on April 03, 2023
- 45 sec read
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Quick analysis:
| Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJKLMMN |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
| Characters | 775 |
| Words | 153 |
| Stanzas | 1 |
| Stanza Lengths | 15 |
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"once and future glory" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/126513/once-and-future-glory>.
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