The following text is from Narcíso Tondreau’s 1898 poem “Yesterday and To-Day” (translated by Agnes Blake Poor in 1918).
The poem is about an old statue of the Greek goddess Venus, which now lies on the ground in a state of disrepair.
How long ago, by summer breezes fanned,
Here stood the newborn Venus, fresh and fair;
All palpitating from the master’s hand,
The last touch of his chisel lingering there.
Just here, where human hand has surely wrought
“And surely this shall last!” he proudly thought;
“Fixed in immortal marble is my fame!”
Some crumbling letters may have spelled his name
The poem is about an old statue of the Greek goddess Venus, which now lies on the ground in a state of disrepair.
How long ago, by summer breezes fanned,
Here stood the newborn Venus, fresh and fair;
All palpitating from the master’s hand,
The last touch of his chisel lingering there.
Just here, where human hand has surely wrought
“And surely this shall last!” he proudly thought;
“Fixed in immortal marble is my fame!”
Some crumbling letters may have spelled his name