Thou hast beheld His palace and his most exalted courts Bestrewn with fragments of the Peristyle; The broken column, slab and monolith O'erhung with pendant moss and slimy mold; Its dismal haunts and gloomy apertures Become the habitation of the bat, The hissing serpent and the scorpion, The basking lizard dull and indolent, And forms of reptile, foul and venomous.
The throne where ruled the king with iron sway Is vacant as the empty wastes of air, Is ruled by desolation and decay. No more the sceptered voice in stern command Rings through its halls, nor can the dazzling flash Of the tiara and the diadem, The ensign and insignia of power, The emblazoned crest and jeweled coat of arms, Or proud escutcheon of illustrious name Excite with envy or inspire with fear.
The boisterous carousal and the sound Of wassail mirth, inebriate and loud, And midnight revelry, is hushed and still.
Time shifts the scenes-- The haughty prince and the most abject slave, Who cowered and trembled 'neath his austere glance, The fawning and ignoble sycophant, The courtier and the basest serf, have met On equal terms beneath the silent dust.
From thy celestial 'minions thou hast seen His proudest temples sink into decay, Grim desolation and desuetude; The silent hush succeed the plaintive hymn, The anthem cease to swell in rhythmic praise, Or vaulted dome re-echo with the sound Of pipe, of organ, harp and dulcimer; The voice of sacerdotal eloquence Become as silent as the unborn thought; The fragrant perfume of the frankincense, The scent of swinging censor and of myrrh, Supplanted by foul odors of decay; The sacred flame extinguished and forgot, Its votaries and congregations fled; The forms who ministered and forms who knelt, The burnished altar and the hoary priest, Commingling their atoms in the dust.
Thou, too, hast heard the clash of hostile arms, The blast of trumpet and the martial tread, The neigh of charger anxious for the fray, The din and the confusion of the fight, The noise and turmoil of contending hosts, The crunch of breaking bones and shrieks of pain; The angry challenge and defiant taunt, The cries of rage and curses of despair, The dying groan and gnash of clench-ed teeth, The plea for mercy, with uplifted arms, As through the bosom plunged the ruthless steel; The clank of shackles and the captives groan, As marched the vanquished forth to servitude, To ceaseless toil rewarded by the scourge; To stand within the slave marts and endure The taunts and bear the chains of slavery.