Which silken shirt became a sheet of flame?
For these are only two such accidents, of many
That I could show, if it were not for time.
There was a marine wreath, a garland of unwithered roses:
Here they are now, forever dry and bright
Since they belonged to one who shall be nameless
From whose bones the city borrowed flesh.
Their shape is banished from the frivolous limbs
Of all the judge's victims, I mean time's,
Long since, of that half thrilled half apprehensive cargo
Of once pubescent boys and nervous nymphs
Sentenced to be transported
With him, like Theseus,
Aboard the good ship Venus,
To a terrible triumph.
OU voulez-vous aller?
The vessel is of silver
Upon a gilded sea,
The youths and maidens are
Of lapis lazuli.
They have nothing to tell us.
Each masterpiece outlasts
The secret of its meaning
As if it ever had
A meaning.
As
he surfaced,
Round the ocean rang,
There crept across the water
In
their wake a music
Of unutterable voices.
