By Oliver Wendell Holmes
The sun-browned girl, whose limbs recline
When noon her languid hand has laid
Hot on the green flakes of the pine,
Beneath its narrow disk of shade;
As, through the flickering noontide glare,
She gazes on the rainbow chain
Of arches, lifting once in air
The rivers of the Roman's plain;--
Say, does her wandering eye recall
The mountain-current's icy wave,--
Or for the dead one tear let fall,
Whose founts are broken by their grave?
From stone to stone the ivy weaves
Her braided tracery's winding veil,
And lacing stalks and tangled leaves
Nod heavy in the drowsy gale.
And lightly floats the pendent vine,
That swings beneath her slender bow,
Arch answering arch,--whose rounded line
Seems mirrored in the wreath below.
How patient Nature smiles at Fame!
The weeds, that strewed the victor's way,
Feed on his dust to shroud his name,
Green where his proudest towers decay.
See, through that channel, empty now,
The scanty rain its tribute pours,--
Which cooled the lip and laved the brow
Of conquerors from a hundred shores.
Thus bending o'er the nation's bier,
Whose wants the captive earth supplied,
The dew of Memory's passing tear
Falls on the arches of her pride!
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I was slightly less jetlagged on Saturday, in part because February was lost all morning and it was nearly 80 degrees so we went for a walk in the park (where there were daffodils as well as the previous crocuses etc.)...then a cold front blew in with a big windy storm in the afternoon, so I spent that time uploading trip photos and trying to figure out which ones should be in a Shutterfly book. Maddy went to work in the afternoon and we had cats very confused about the temperature change and thunder.
We're trying to decide which TV is worth catching up. I'm spoiled for Nashville and therefore done with that show. We watched the finale of The Young Pope, which was pretty great, and last week's Supergirl, which was pretty hilarious, plus the Timeless finale, which is hopefully just for the season and not the series. Not sure I'll bother with The Flash, definitely not bothering with Agents of SHIELD. Blindspot? Anyway, here are some pics from Pont du Gard's Roman aqueduct and museum:
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