Ruins of Rome, Italy
Sonnet by Joachim du Bellay translated by Ezra Pound
- O thou new comer who seek'st Rome in Rome
- And find'st in Rome no thing thou canst call Roman
- Arches worn old and palaces made common,
- Rome's name alone within these walls keeps home.
- Behold how pride and ruin can befall
- One who hath set the whole world 'neath her laws,
- All-conquering, now conquered, because
- She is Time's prey and Time consumeth all.
- Rome that art Rome's one sole last monument,
- Rome that alone hast conquered Rome the town,
- Tiber alone, transient and seaward bent,
- Remains of Rome. O world, thou unconstant mime!
- That which stands firm in thee Time batters down,
- And that which fleeteth doth outrun swift time.
-
Ezra Pound, Rome, Personae
