Classic Poem

HIS LAST FAREWELL TO LESBIA .

Comrades! whom I can trust to stand by me
Whether I pierce to India's further shore,
Where beats the surf and thunders evermore;
Whether where Nile discolours all the sea
Seven-mouthed; or yonder airy Alps transcend
To meditate on things memorial,
Of Caesar's greatness in the Rhine-swept Gaul,
And savage Britain where the world hath end;
Ready with me to dare what Heaven shall will!
This bitter cry bear her I loved of yore; —
" Ah, shameless, shameless lust! Sweet, seek no more
To win back love; by thine own fault it fell;
In the far corner of the field though hid
Toucht by the plough at last, — the flower is dead! "