Page:Canadian Singers and Their Songs.djvu/17

CANADIAN SINGERS AND THEIR SONGS Sic Transit Gloria.

For what of splendour or of fame
 * Can vaunt itself beneath the sun?
 * The race of myriads is run,

But Nature's face is e'er the same.

The secret craft of Memphian priest,
 * The grace of Athens, thews of Rome,
 * Sidonian triremes turning home,

The mellow wonder of the East,—

Who shall see them restored again?
 * The memory of their pride and shame
 * Held by the learned few, their name

Strange to the mass of modern men!

Along the great white roads of Time,
 * In spite of pomp and sneering lust,
 * Life's caravans are blown to dust,

And only Nature moves sublime.

William Talbot Allison. 13