The Waifs of Time

When some great ship has long ago been wreck'd,

And the repentant waves have long since laid

Upon the beach the booty that they made,

And few remember still, and none expect,

The Sea will sometimes suddenly eject

A lonely shattered waif, still undecayed,

That tells of lives with which an old storm played,

In a carved name that graybeards recollect.

So ever and anon the soundless sea

Which we call Time, casts up upon the strand

Some tardy waif from lost antiquity:

A stained maimed god, a faun with shattered hand,

From Art's great wreck is suddenly set free,

And stands before us as immortals stand.