Classic Poem

Events rule all: irruptive Rome made Christ;
Irruptive Greece Italian knowledge woke.
The Christian fantasy, by facts advised,—
When classic Art pontificates enticed,—
Erudite monks the see of Cæsars broke:
Wickliffe and Huss, Luther and Bruno spoke
While modelled Angelo and Raphael;
The voice of Letters dealt the void a stroke
As finds its tongue the dumb, sepulchral bell.
So cannot rest the aye resurgent mind;
Wave upon wave resultant movements thresh
The rock of Peter or the caves of hell,
And every human billow that does grind
The dikes of credence, keeps the ocean fresh.