themselves,
And countless beings
Pass countless moods. 10

Far hence, in Asia,
On the smooth convent-roofs,
On the gilt terraces,
Of holy Lassa, deg. deg.14
Bright shines the sun. 15

Grey time-worn marbles
Hold the pure Muses deg.; deg.17
In their cool gallery, deg. deg.18
By yellow Tiber, deg. deg.19
They still look fair. 20

Strange unloved uproar deg. deg.21
Shrills round their portal;
Yet not on Helicon deg. deg.23
Kept they more cloudless
Their noble calm. 25

Through sun-proof alleys
In a lone, sand-hemm'd
City of Africa,
A blind, led beggar,
Age-bow'd, asks alms. 30

No bolder robber
Erst deg. abode ambush'd deg.32
Deep in the sandy waste;
No clearer eyesight
Spied prey afar. 35

Saharan sand-winds
Sear'd his keen eyeballs;
Spent is the spoil he won.
For him the present
Holds only pain. 40

Two young, fair lovers,
Where the warm June-wind,
Fresh from the summer fields
Plays fondly round them,
Stand, tranced in joy. 45

With sweet, join'd voices,
And with eyes brimming:
"Ah," they cry, "Destiny, deg. deg.48
Prolong the present!
Time, stand still here!" 50

The prompt stern Goddess
Shakes her head, frowning;
Time gives his hour-glass
Its due reversal;
Their hour is gone. 55

With weak indulgence
Did the just Goddess
Lengthen their happiness,
She lengthen'd also
Distress elsewhere. 60

The hour, whose happy
Unalloy'd moments
I would eternalise,
Ten thousand mourners
Well pleased see end. 65

The bleak, stern hour,
Whose se