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Thomas Hardy - In The British Museum
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`What do you see in that time-touched stone,
      When nothing is there
But ashen blankness, although you give it
      A rigid stare?


`You look not quite as if you saw,
      But as if you heard,
Parting your lips, and treading softly
      As mouse or bird.


`It is only the base of a pillar, they`ll tell you,
      That came to us
From a far old hill men used to name
      Areopagus.`


— `I know no art, and I only view
      A stone from a wall,
But I am thinking that stone has echoed
      The voice of Paul,


`Paul as he stood and preached beside it
      Facing the crowd,
A small gaunt figure with wasted features,
      Calling out loud


`Words that in all their intimate accents
      Pattered upon
That marble front, and were far reflected,
      And then were gone.


`I`m a labouring man, and know but little,
      Or nothing at all;
But I can`t help thinking that stone once echoed
      The voice of Paul.`
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