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MEN AND WOMEN.

LOVE AMONG THE RUINS.

1.

WHERE the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles

Miles and miles

On the solitary pastures where our sheep

Half-asleep

Tinkle homeward thro' the twilight, stray or stop As they crop

2.

Was the site once of a city great and gay,
(So they say)

Of our country's very capital, its prince
Ages since

Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far

Peace or war.

3.

Now

- the country does not even boast a tree,
As you see,

To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills
From the hills

Intersect and give a name to, (else they run
Into one)

4.

Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires Up like fires

O'er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall

Bounding all,

Made of marble, men might march on nor be prest, Twelve abreast.

5.

And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass
Never was!

Such a carpet as, this summer-time, o'erspreads
And embeds

Every vestige of the city, guessed alone,

Stock or stone

6.

Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe

Long ago;

Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame Struck them tame;

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