TRIP TO HISTORIC BATH POEM 24

The weather is grey and dull and had a spitting rain. Pulling oneself out of bed to the cold to walk is a tough task after such a day as Christmas!

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Each wave of time lays down its alluvium, each race deposits its own stratum on the monument, each individual contributes his stone. Thus do the beavers, and the bees; and thus does man.” Victor Hugo

Before

Peering down I wonder at what was,

A monument unseen hidden from view,

What disaster has brought us here,

So close and yet too far to touch?

What lurks there in the dark?

What mechanism believes the turret,

So familiar and yet mysterious?

This is what I wonder in silence.

The stone is marble but etched with time,

Worn away the original passage is not clear,

For what reason did they cover you,

What did they hide below so secret?

Was it not to be discovered so a no

Person could pollute the waters private,

And used only by the servant of the city?

A would even then I would not know.

Inasmuch as even the good and the great are contented to surrender the privilege of resting in person in the churches, we may, at least, erect there or in some fair hall near the burying-place, either monuments or monumental writings.” Goethe