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N. Minsky
55

MY TEMPLE

Who rears a temple, rears two monuments:
His own and the destroyer's. They who build
Accept Herostratos' arbitraments:
And to the torch the chisel's work is willed.
Both will stand firm before posterity,
And equal glory Fame to each will lend.
But thou, my air-domed temple, shalt not be
Mocked by the vengeance of the general end.

On an abyss of ruin is thy lease,
Thou'rt in the furnace of negation fired;
n thee the hymns of solace shall not cease:
With sorrow winged, by calm despair inspired.
Thee, legioned sufferings guard, in iron mail,
And in their vanguard Death, who shall prevail.