You shall not pile, with servile toil,
Your monuments upon my breast,
Nor yet within the common read more

You shall not pile, with servile toil,
Your monuments upon my breast,
Nor yet within the common soil
Lay down the wreck of power to rest,
Where man can boast that he has trod
On him that was "the scourge of God."

The need has gone; the memorial thereof remains.
[Lat., Factum abiit; monumenta manent.]

The need has gone; the memorial thereof remains.
[Lat., Factum abiit; monumenta manent.]

Where London's column, pointing at the skies,
Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies.

Where London's column, pointing at the skies,
Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies.

Thou, in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thyself a life-long monument.

Thou, in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thyself a life-long monument.

To extend our memories by monuments, whose death we daily pray
for, and whose duration we cannot hope, without read more

To extend our memories by monuments, whose death we daily pray
for, and whose duration we cannot hope, without injury to our
expectations in the advent of the last day, were a contradiction
to our belief.

Their monument sticks like a fishbone
in the city's throat.

Their monument sticks like a fishbone
in the city's throat.

I have reared a memorial more enduring than brass, and loftier
than the regal structure of the pyramids, which read more

I have reared a memorial more enduring than brass, and loftier
than the regal structure of the pyramids, which neither the
corroding shower nor the powerless north wind can destroy; no,
not even unending years nor the flight of time itself. I shall
not entirely die. The greater part of me shall escape oblivion.
[Lat., Exegi monumentum aera perennius
Regalique situ pyramidum altius,
Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens
Possit diruere aut innumerabilis
Annorum series et fuga temporum.
Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei
Vitabit Libitinam.]

Tombs are the clothes of the dead. A grave is but a plain suit,
and a rich monument is read more

Tombs are the clothes of the dead. A grave is but a plain suit,
and a rich monument is one embroidered.

Let it rise! let it rise, till it meet the sum in his coming;
let the earliest light of read more

Let it rise! let it rise, till it meet the sum in his coming;
let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and the parting
day linger and play on its summit.