Friday, June 03, 2005
Before a Statue of Achilles
George Santayana (1863-1952), Before a Statue of Achilles:
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I gaze on thee as Phidias of oldBefore what statue was Santayana standing? Polyclitus' Doryphoros (spear carrier), which survives in a Roman copy, is one possibility.
Or Polyclitus gazed, when first he saw
These hard and shining limbs, without a flaw,
And cast his wonder in heroic mould.
Unhappy me who only may behold,
Nor make immutable and fix in awe
A fair immortal form no worm shall gnaw,
A tempered mind whose faith was never told!
The godlike mien, the lion's lock and eye,
The well-knit sinew, utter a brave heart
Better than many words that part by part
Spell in strange symbols what serene and whole
In nature lives, nor can in marble die.
The perfect body is itself the soul.
