1. ۱Where the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles
2. ۲ Miles and miles
3. ۳On the solitary pastures where our sheep
4. ۴ Half-asleep
5. ۵Tinkle homeward thro' the twilight, stray or stop
6. ۶ As they crop--
7. ۷Was the site once of a city great and ...,
8. ۸ (So they say)
9. ۹Of our country's very capital, its prince
10. ۱۰ Ages since
11. ۱۱Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far
12. ۱۲ Peace or war.
13. ۱۳
14. ۱۴Now,--the country does not even boast a tree,
15. ۱۵ As you see,
16. ۱۶To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills
17. ۱۷ From the hills
18. ۱۸Intersect and give a name to (else they run
19. ۱۹ Into one),
20. ۲۰Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires
21. ۲۱ Up like fires
22. ۲۲O'er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall
23. ۲۳ Bounding all,
24. ۲۴Made of marble, men might march on nor be pressed,
25. ۲۵ Twelve abreast.
26. ۲۶
27. ۲۷And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass
28. ۲۸ Never was!
29. ۲۹Such a carpet as, this summer-time, o'erspreads
30. ۳۰ And embeds
31. ۳۱Every vestige of the city, guessed alone,
32. ۳۲ Stock or stone--
33. ۳۳Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe
34. ۳۴ Long ago;
35. ۳۵... of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame
36. ۳۶ Struck them tame;
37. ۳۷And that glory and that shame alike, the gold
38. ۳۸ Bought and sold.
39. ۳۹
40. ۴۰Now,--the single little turret that remains
41. ۴۱ On the plains,
42. ۴۲By the caper overrooted, by the gourd
43. ۴۳ Overscored,
44. ۴۴While the patching houseleek's head of blossom winks
45. ۴۵ Thro' the chinks--
46. ۴۶Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time
47. ۴۷ Sprang sublime,
48. ۴۸And a burning ring, all round, the chariots traced
49. ۴۹ As they raced,
50. ۵۰And the monarch and his minions and his dames
51. ۵۱ Viewed the games.
52. ۵۲
53. ۵۳And I know--while thus the quiet-coloured eve
54. ۵۴ Smiles to leave
55. ۵۵To their folding, all our many-tinkling fleece
56. ۵۶ In such peace,
57. ۵۷And the slopes and rills in undistinguished gray
58. ۵۸ Melt away--
59. ۵۹That a girl with eager eyes and yellow hair
60. ۶۰ Waits me there
61. ۶۱In the turret whence the charioteers caught soul
62. ۶۲ For the goal,
63. ۶۳When the king looked, where she looks now, breathless, dumb
64. ۶۴ Till I come,
65. ۶۵
66. ۶۶But he looked upon the city, every side,
67. ۶۷ Far and wide,
68. ۶۸All the mountains topped with temples, all the glades'
69. ۶۹ Colonnades,
70. ۷۰All the causeys, bridges, aqueducts,--and then,
71. ۷۱ All the men!
72. ۷۲When I do come, she will speak not, she will stand,
73. ۷۳ Either hand
74. ۷۴On my shoulder, give her eyes the first embrace
75. ۷۵ Of my face,
76. ۷۶Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech
77. ۷۷ Each on each.
78. ۷۸
79. ۷۹In one year they sent a million fighters forth
80. ۸۰ South and North,
81. ۸۱And they built their gods a brazen pillar high
82. ۸۲ As the sky,
83. ۸۳Yet reserved a thousand chariots in full force--
84. ۸۴ Gold, of course.
85. ۸۵Oh heart! oh blood that freezes, blood that burns!
86. ۸۶ Earth's returns
87. ۸۷For whole centuries of folly, noise, and sin!
88. ۸۸ Shut them in,
89. ۸۹With their triumphs and their glories and the rest!
90. ۹۰ Love is best.