Classic Poem

(Sunt lacrimae rerum — Lugete, [o] Veneres Cupidinesque)

Pity mourns in plaintive tone
The lovely Starling dead and gone.
Weep, ye Loves, and Venus, weep
The lovely Starling fallen asleep.
Venus see with tearful eyes,
In her lap the starling lies,
While the Loves all in a ring
Softly stroke the stiffened wing.

*****

Yet art thou happier far than she
Who felt a mother's love for thee.
For while her days are days of weeping,
Thou, in peace, in silence sleeping
In some still world, unknown, remote
The mighty Parent's care hast found,
Without whose tender guardian thought
No Sparrow falleth to the ground.