Poems Sigourney 1827/Epitaph on the Mausoleum of John Viscomti, Lord of Milan

by Lydia Sigourney

EPITAPH

ON THE MAUSOLEUM OF JOHN VISCOMTI, LORD OF MILAN,
WHO DIED IN 1354.

Traveller! slow pausing on thy thoughtful way,
Would'st thou the amount of human good survey,
The weight of honour, and the worth of gold?
Learn what I was,—and what I am, behold.
—Treasures were mine, immense as man's desires,
Cities superb, and domes where pomp retires.
Rome, queen of earth, confess'd my rising fame,
And all Italia trembled at my name.
—Yet what avails it now? I sleep in clay,
To stone a prisoner, and of worms the prey.

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