C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Epitaph
By José-Maria de Heredia (18421905)
Translation of Maurice Francis Egan
H
Of Maugiron, dead, gone, at rest:
May God absolve and keep him near his breast;
Fallen to earth, he lies in holy sward.
None—even Quélus—wore the pearly cord,
The plumèd cap, or ruff more meetly prest;
Behold by a new Myron well exprest
A spray of hyacinth in marble scored.
And having kissed him and most tenderly
Placed him in coffin, Henry willed that he
At Saint-Germain be laid;—fair, wan, he lies.
And wishing that such grief should never die,
He made in church, all changes to defy,
This sweet, sad symbol of Apollo’s sighs.