Rome Revisited Poem Rhyme Scheme

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O sovereign Rome still mistress of the heart	A
As of the world in thy majestic prime	B
Grand in thy ruins peerless in thine art	A
Rich in the memories of a past sublime	B
	-
Is thine the fault or mine that thou art changed	C
And that I tread the new Tiberian shore	D
Convinced alas that we are now estranged	C
And that for me thy charm exists no more	D
	-
I have grown older but am not blase	E
My hair has whitened but my heart is young	F
Still thrills my pulse the tomb girt Appian Way	G
Still stirs my soul the ancient Latin tongue	F
	-
Whence then this transformation that pervades	H
Rome's very air and leaves its blighting trace	I
Alike upon the Pincio's colonnades	I
And on the Mausoleum's rugged face	I
	-
The fault dear Rome is neither thine nor mine	J
But that of vandals nurtured on thy breast	K
Who mad as modern citizens to shine	J
Have fashioned thee like cities of the west	K
	-
Thy time worn face and figure deeply bowed	L
By countless sufferings for two thousand years	I
Whose proper garment seemed to be a shroud	L
Commanding reverence sympathy and tears	I
	-
Are now bedecked with tawdry gems of paste	M
Parisian robes thy withered limbs conceal	N
Thy wrinkled cheeks are rouged in vulgar taste	M
A modern watch fob holds the Caesar's seal	N
	-
Where once imperial Triumphs proudly passed	O
Electric cars roll thundering through thy streets	I
In Raphael's groves the automobile's blast	O
Expels the Muses from their calm retreats	I
	-
Through sinuous miles of shops with worldly wares	I
Bewildered pilgrims reach St Peter's shrine	J
Some modern stamp each old piazza bears	I
And freed from weeds thy burnished ruins shine	J
	-
Near Hadrian's massive bridge of sculptured stone	P
The Tiber surges 'neath an iron frame	Q
Across whose ugly beams the tramcars groan	P
And brand the river with a bar of shame	Q
	-
Gods of Olympus can ye not restore	D
To outraged Rome her dignity of old	R
'Twere better Jove and Juno to adore	D
Than in their stead to worship only Gold	R
	-
Thy glorious statues cruelly defaced	M
Thy crumbling shrines thy marbles burnt to lime	B
The lone Campagna's fever stricken waste	M
Where lizards bask on columns once sublime	B
	-
The Flavian Amphitheatre's gaping wounds	I
The Baths of Caracalla's roofless walls	I
The Forum's multitude of ruined mounds	I
The royal Palatine's abandoned halls	I
	-
All these indeed create a hopeless pain	S
When fancy strives to reconstruct the whole	T
Yet pathos wakened by a wreck strewn plain	S
Inspires at least nobility of soul	T
	-
But where a Syndic's greed hath left its trail	U
The picturesque and beautiful take flight	V
The Past's inspiring influences fail	U
As stars are hidden by electric light	V
	-
Yet protests meet derision and disdain	S
The fatal madness spreads from land to land	W
Peace Art and Beauty everywhere are slain	S
By greedy Traffic's hard rapacious hand	W
	-
We laugh at lessons taught by others' fate	X
We see no ending to our prosperous day	G
Forgetting that in turn each ancient State	X
Hath passed through bud and flower to decay	G
	-
Behold the retrogression of those lands	I
Whence painting sculpture and the drama sprung	F
See starved Trinacria's outstretched empty hands	I
And all the classic shores by Homer sung	F
	-
In what have we surpassed them We are taught	Y
Their art their ethics and their rythmic speech	Z
Both Greece and Asia still control our thought	Y
Their grandest works still far beyond our reach	Z
	-
The breathless transfer of men thoughts and things	I
Improved designs for vaster fratricide	A2
Are these the leading gifts this century brings	I
The twentieth too since Christ was crucified	A2
	-
Yet thoughts that most have influenced mankind	B2
Were not sent broadcast with the lightning's speed	C2
Nor do the works of Plato lag behind	B2
The myriad books and papers that we read	D2
	-
And thou Italia that for ages played	E2
A role whose majesty can ne'er be told	R
Hast thou like all the rest thy trust betrayed	E2
Adored the New and sacrificed the Old	R
	-
Wilt thou for fashion make thy Past forlorn	F2
Waste precious substance upon useless ships	I
Transport to Africa thine eldest born	F2
And let gaunt hunger blanch thy peasants' lips	I
	-
Make poorly paid officials banded knaves	I
Drive starving sons by thousands from thy shore	D
Or let them rot in Abyssinian graves	I
And hide the cancer festering at thy core	D
	-
If so 'tis certain thou must dearly pay	G
For playing thus the war lord's pompous part	A
And thou shalt feel at no far distant day	G
The people's dagger driven through thy heart	A
	-
Fain would I find some peaceful Pagan shrine	J
Unspoiled as yet by vandals of to day	G
Around whose shafts the sweet wild roses twine	J
And on whose marble walls the sunbeams play	G
	-
There would I dream of days when life was sweet	G2
With poetry art and myths devoid of dread	D2
When all the Gods in harmony could meet	G2
And no eternal torment vexed the dead	D2
	-
Our vaunted age is one of feverish haste	M
Of racial hatred and of loathsome cant	H2
Of gross corruption and of tawdry taste	M
Of monster fortunes with a world in want	I2
	-
I am not of it and I will not be	J2
Its social strife and slavery I despise	I
Gone is its shore I sail the open sea	J2
O'er tranquil waters and 'neath cloudless skies	I

John L. Stoddard

Rome Revisited Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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