Classic Poem

To him, who symbol of his empire shows
By the inverted brand's declining flame,
Love, spent with wayfaring, in twilight came,
And said, I weary, and would taste repose.
Do thou, whose vigilant eye must never close,
Governing thy viewless shafts' incessant aim,
Guard me, and from thy brother's realm reclaim
When bathed in orient light my planet throes.
And so it was, Love slumbered and arose,
But, parting, bore his comrade's torch away;
Soon in Death's numbing hand his own expired:
Now earth is empty of his joys and woes,
And in her sages' lore, poets' lay,
Sweet Love is disesteemed, and Death desired.