Poem by Richard Monckton Milnes

Written at Mycenae

I saw a weird procession glide along
The vestibule before the
Lion's gate;
A Man of godlike limb and warrior state,
Who never looked behind him, led the throng;
Next a pale Girl, singing sweet sorrow, met
My eyes, who ever pointed to a fleck
Of ingrained crimson on her marble neck;
Her a fierce Woman, armed with knife and net,
Close followed, whom a Youth pursued with smile,
Once mild, now bitter--mad, himself the while
Pursued by three foul Shapes, gory and grey:
Dread family! . . . I saw another day
The phantom of that Youth, sitting alone,
Quiet, thought--bound, a stone upon a stone.

1. Meditative Fragments, on Venice
2. To the Moon of the South
3. On the Church of the Madeleine
4. To Charles Lamb
5. Sir Walter Scott at the Tomb of the Stuarts in St Peter's

Print

1149 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version