The Last Ode

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As watchers couched beneath a Bantine oak,
 Hearing the dawn-wind stir,
Know that the present strength of night is broke
 Though no dawn threaten her
Till dawn's appointed hour-so Virgil died,
 Aware of change at hand, and prophesied

Change upon all the Eternal Gods had made
 And on the Gods alike-
Fated as dawn but, as the dawn, delayed
 Till the just hour should strike-

A Star new-risen above the living and dead;
 And the lost shades that were our loves restored
As lovers, and for ever. So he said;
 Having received the word…

Maecenas waits me on the Esquiline:
 Thither to-night go I….
And shall this dawn restore us, Virgil mine
 To dawn? Beneath what sky?

© Rudyard Kipling