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TYPE of the antique Rome! Rich reliquary

Of lofty contemplation left to Time

By buried centuries of pomp and power!

At length — at length — after so many days

Of weary pilgrimage and burning thirst,

(Thirst for the springs of lore that in thee lie,)

I kneel, an altered and an humble man,

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Amid thy shadows, and so drink within

My very soul thy grandeur, gloom, and glory!

 

Vastness! and Age! and Memories of Eld!

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Silence! and Desolation! and dim Night!

I feel ye now — I feel ye in your strength —

O spells more sure than e’er Judæan king

Taught in the gardens of Gethsemane!

O charms more potent than the rapt Chaldee

Ever drew down from out the quiet stars!

 

Here, where a hero fell, a column falls!

Here, where the mimic eagle glared in gold,

A midnight vigil holds the swarthy bat!

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Here, where the dames of Rome their gilded hair

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Waved to the wind, now wave the reed and thistle!

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Here, where on golden throne the monarch lolled,

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Glides, spectre-like, unto his marble home,

Lit by the wan light of the hornéd moon,

The swift and silent lizard of the stones! [page 20:]

 

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But stay! these walls — these ivy-clad arcades —

These mouldering plinths — these sad and blackened shafts —

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These vague entablatures — this crumbling frieze —

These shattered cornices — this wreck — this ruin —

These stones — alas! these gray stones — are they all —

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All of the famed, and the colossal left

By the corrosive Hours to Fate and me?

 

“Not all” — the Echoes answer me — “not all!

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“Prophetic sounds and loud, arise forever

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“From us, and from all Ruin, unto the wise,

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“As melody from Memnon to the Sun.

“We rule the hearts of mightiest men — we rule

“With a despotic sway all giant minds.

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“We are not impotent — we pallid stones.

“Not all our power is gone — not all our fame —

“Not all the magic of our high renown —

“Not all the wonder that encircles us —

“Not all the mysteries that in us lie —

“Not all the memories that hang upon

“And cling around about us as a garment,

“Clothing us in a robe of more than glory.”