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Show 12 THE LTD.ERTY DELL. l)letra ; or, a .Song of llje roeacrt. 8~-:-r in crags of lurid red, Yawns a city of the dead. O'er them fiery Asia's sun Hurls his headlong splendors down. Many-horned, with plantod feet, Up they ross tho dizzy heat, Till, in all, the shrinking eyo Only sees ono blazing sky. Through the midst those crags are rent. Through them drops tho blank descent. Lo, midway 'twixt sky and ground, All with grand amazement crowned, Piles, by viewless workmen hewn, Sta.rting through the living stone ! PETRA; OH, A BONO 0~' TIH.l DES.t;RT. Here and there, aboyc, below, Niche, fa9ade, and portico, Pyramid with blunted head, Climbing stair, and colonnade, And, their graven fronts among, Words in a forgotten tongue ! Call them palaces, not tombs I Surely these some princely gnomes Fashioned for their king's abode, Then heaved aloft their gorgeous load, And, drunk with joy, elate and vain, Rent the earth's rough crust amain, And left • chink that that sh>rp spy, Quick-prating Fancy, might descry, And straight to envying man unfold The glories of the centre old. Tombs they were. Thy lonely search Follow through yon shady arch, 2 13 |