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“To the Old Gods” by Edwin Muir 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (15 May 1887 – 3 Jan 1959)
Old gods and goddesses who have lived so long
Through time and never found eternity,
Fettered by wasting wood and hollowing hill,
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You should have fled our ever-dying song,
The mound, the well, and the green trysting tree.
They have forgotten, yet you linger still.
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Goddess of caverned breast and channeled brow,
And cheeks slow hollowed by millennial tears,
Forests of autumns fading in your eyes,
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Eternity marvels at your counted years
And kingdoms lost in time, and wonders how
There could be thoughts so bountiful and wise
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As yours beneath the ever-breaking bough,
And vast compassion curving like the skies.