Canadian Singers and Their Songs/William Talbot Allison
WILLIAM TALBOT ALLISON
AUTHOR OF "THE AMBER ARMY AND OTHER POEMS."
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.