The Conservative (Lovecraft)/January 1916/On Receiving a Picture of Swans
On Receiving a Picture of Swans.
With pensive grace the melancholy Swan
Mourns o'er the tomb of luckless Phaeton;
On grassy banks the weeping poplars wave,
And guard with tender care the wat'ry grave.
Would that I might, should I too proudly claim
An heav'nly parent, or a god-like fame.
When flown too high, and dash'd to depths below,
Receive such tribute as a Cygnus' woe.
The faithful bird, that dumbly floats along,
Sighs all the deeper for his want of song!
H.P. Lovecraft