'The Bones of Agamemnon are a show!' <br />And only yesterday I held in hand <br />That fossil resin from the Baltic strand— <br />The Miocene in mimic afterglow; <br />And there, distinct from mandible to toe, <br />Perfect as on the day when last he crawled, <br />An iridescent beetle widely sprawled, <br />Caught in that golden gum so long ago. <br /> <br />On some fine morning of the perilled Past, <br />He had gone forth so bravely (say, alone, <br />On his adventure), thorny and cuirassed, <br />Eager, perhaps, to win a scarab-throne, <br />But found a fate not all unlike our own, <br />Whom custom's pale viscidities hold fast.<br /><br />George Sterling<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/amber-7/
