100 Greatest Poems by A . E Housman - HTML preview

A Vision upon the Fairy Queen

Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay, Within that temple where the vestal flame Was wont to burn; and, passing by that way, To see that buried dust of living fame,

Whose tomb fair Love, and fairer Virtue kept: All suddenly I saw the Fairy Queen;
At whose approach the soul of Petrarch wept, And, from thenceforth, those Graces were not seen:

For they this queen attended; in whose stead Oblivion laid him down on Laura's hearse: Hereat the hardest stones were seen to bleed,

And groans of buried ghosts the heavens did pierce: Where Homer's spright did tremble all for grief, And cursed the access of that celestial thief!