About This Lesson
Introduction to Poetry:
A discussion of "To A Poet A Thousand Years Hence" by James Elroy Flecker
To A Poet A Thousand Years Hence
(by James Elroy Flecker)
I who am dead a thousand years,
And wrote this sweet archaic song,
Send you my words as messengers,
The way I shall not pass along.
I care not if you bridge the seas,
Or ride secure the cruel skies,
Or build consummate palacies,
Of metal, or of masonry.
But have you wine, and music still?
And statues, and a bright-eyed love?
And foolish thoughts of Good and Ill?
And prayers to Him who sits above?
How shall we conquer? Like a wind
At eve our fancies blow,
And old Maonedies the blind said it,
Three thousand years ago.
O Friend! Unseen, unborn, unknown,
Student of our sweet English tongue,
Read out my words at night, alone,
I was a poet, I was young.
Since I can never see your face,
And never take you by the hand,
I send my words through time and space
To greet you. You will understand.
