Delio Patri Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DEDEFF GHGHII JFJFKK LMLMNN OBOBFF ODODBB IPPPPP OQOQBB OBOBOO RBRBQQ| Inscription on an altar fragment found on the Island of Lake Como | A |
| and belonging formerly to a temple of Delian Apollo the Delian | B |
| Father which no doubt existed there | C |
| - | |
| - | |
| Once more Lake Como's storied isle | D |
| Reveals the Roman past | E |
| Again a stone of classic style | D |
| The spade hath upward cast | E |
| How can such relics thus endure | F |
| Two thousand years of sepulture | F |
| - | |
| More eagerly than those who toil | G |
| For nuggets of mere gold | H |
| We seize and rescue from the soil | G |
| This monument of old | H |
| An altar fragment much defaced | I |
| Yet on whose surface words are traced | I |
| - | |
| With reverent hands we cleanse from grime | J |
| The legend chiselled there | F |
| Which now triumphant over time | J |
| Still proves the sculptor's care | F |
| Engraved when on this wave girt hill | K |
| The Pagan gods were potent still | K |
| - | |
| 'As on their own peculiar page | L |
| The fingers of the blind | M |
| Decipher truths of every age | L |
| As mind communes with mind | M |
| So one by one these letters spell | N |
| A name the ancient world knew well | N |
| - | |
| For Delio Patri heads the lines | O |
| Inscribed upon this stone | B |
| And instantly the mind divines | O |
| What else had been unknown | B |
| Since that familiar name makes clear | F |
| Apollo once was worshipped here | F |
| - | |
| Perhaps because the spot suggests | O |
| That other tiny isle | D |
| Upon whose shore forever rests | O |
| The Sun God's tender smile | D |
| Fair Delos where one fabled morn | B |
| Both he and Artemis were born | B |
| - | |
| Beneath the donor's name is placed | I |
| And lower still we read | P |
| In characters now half effaced | P |
| The motive for his deed | P |
| Onesimus this altar reared | P |
| To One he gratefully revered | P |
| - | |
| Faith grateful reverence these are traits | O |
| Worth more than rank or fame | Q |
| And what this brief inscription states | O |
| Does honor to his name | Q |
| And makes us wish still more to know | B |
| Of him who built here long ago | B |
| - | |
| And is this all the cynic sneers | O |
| The remnant of a shrine | B |
| Alas for him who never hears | O |
| Or heeds the world divine | B |
| And in this fragment fails to see | O |
| A stepping stone to Deity | O |
| - | |
| The Sun God's shrines in ruins lie | R |
| But not the glorious sun | B |
| A thousand transient faiths may die | R |
| All prototypes of One | B |
| Since under every form and name | Q |
| Their essence still remains the same | Q |
John L. Stoddard
(1)
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