Footsteps
Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)
On an ebony bed decorated
with coral eagles, sound asleep lies
Nero --- unconscious, quiet, and blissful;
thriving in the vigor of flesh,
and in the splendid power of youth.
But in the alabaster hall that encloses
the ancient shrine of the Aenobarbi
how restive are his Lares.
The little household gods tremble,
and try to hide their insignificant bodies.
For they heard a horrible clamor,
a deathly clamor ascending the stairs,
iron footsteps rattling the stairs.
And now in a faint the miserable Lares,
burrow in the depth of the shrine,
one tumbles and stumbles upon the other,
one little god falls over the other
for they understand what sort of clamor this is,
they are already feeling the footsteps of the Furies.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 108 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XABXX AXABXCDDAXCCXA |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 709 |
Words | 126 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 14 |
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"Footsteps" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/7140/footsteps>.
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