Poems (Jordan)/Ruins
For works with similar titles, see Ruins.
RUINS
Oh, mouldy fragments of Time's eaten meal,What luxuries once graced this dusty board?For scent of wines in empty goblets stored;And meaty memories these bones reveal,They also, by their nakedness concealGraves which no hand hath dug, wherein is pouredThe famous treasures of the Past's rich hoard;Which, masked as friend, Death hither came to steal;—I would the Present might thy Silence tongue;And that each broken stone would tell its tale;That Fancy purchase this forsaken site!I would that all the curtains Time hath hung,Might fall from each supporting rusty nailAnd let the Past and Present here unite!