Page:The West Indies, and Other Poems.djvu/142
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130
Like me these elder-born of clay
Enjoy'd the cheerful light,
Bore the brief burden of a day,
And went to rest at night.
Enjoy'd the cheerful light,
Bore the brief burden of a day,
And went to rest at night.
Far in the regions of the morn,
The rising sun surveys
Palmyra's palaces forlorn,
Empurpled with his rays.
The rising sun surveys
Palmyra's palaces forlorn,
Empurpled with his rays.
The spirits of the desert dwell
Where eastern grandeur shone,
And vultures scream, hyænas yell
Round Beauty's mouldering throne.
Where eastern grandeur shone,
And vultures scream, hyænas yell
Round Beauty's mouldering throne.
There the pale pilgrim, as he stands,
Sees, from the broken wall,
The shadow tottering on the sands,
Ere the loose fragment fall.
Sees, from the broken wall,
The shadow tottering on the sands,
Ere the loose fragment fall.