Villanelle of Change

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)


1Since Persia fell at Marathon,
2 The yellow years have gathered fast:
3Long centuries have come and gone.

4And yet (they say) the place will don
5 A phantom fury of the past,
6Since Persia fell at Marathon;

7And as of old, when Helicon
8 Trembled and swayed with rapture vast
9(Long centuries have come and gone),

10This ancient plain, when night comes on,
11 Shakes to a ghostly battle-blast,
12Since Persia fell at Marathon.

13But into soundless Acheron
14 The glory of Greek shame was cast:
15Long centuries have come and gone,

16The suns of Hellas have all shone,
17 The first has fallen to the last:—
18Since Persia fell at Marathon,
19Long centuries have come and gone.

Notes

1] Marathon: town on a plain in Attica north of Athens on the Aegean sea where Miltiades defeated the Persian army in 490 B.C.

7] Helicon: mountain in Greece near the Gulf of Corinth.

13] Acheron: river in Hades.

16] Hellas: Greece.