Poems (Piatt)/Volume 1/Stone for a Statue
STONE FOR A STATUE.TO A SCULPTOR.
Leave what is white for whiter use.
For such a purpose as your own
Would be a dreary jest, a coarse abuse,
A bitter wrong to snowy stone.
For such a purpose as your own
Would be a dreary jest, a coarse abuse,
A bitter wrong to snowy stone.
Let the pure marble's silence hold
Its unshaped gods, and do not break
Those hidden images divine and old,
To-day, for one mean man's small sake!
Its unshaped gods, and do not break
Those hidden images divine and old,
To-day, for one mean man's small sake!