Page:Florence Earle Coates Poems 1898 65.jpg

 A TOMB IN TUSCANY

Montepulciano fair,—

Long famous for that vintage rare,

Prized by the giver of the vine

Above all wine—

There dwelt a man whose years had taught him

To seek, beyond what wealth had brought him,

Something to give his transient name

A lasting fame.

For lordly palaces," he said,

Shall crumble; ay, and bastions dread,

And temples grave and gardens gay

Become as they;

Each vaunted image of my power

Shall perish like a wayside flower,

And like the hawk my hand hath fed

Lie waste and dead.

Wherefore, ere yet my days be spent,

I will uprear a monument

That 'gainst the envious floods of Time

Shall stand sublime;

My treasures vast shall serve and cherish

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