Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | Mesopotamia: Babylon | | The Tower of Babel | | Nicholas Michell (1807–1880) |
| | (From Ruins of Many Lands)
FAR in the Eastern wild, begirt by sands, | |
| A rugged pile, like some grim giant, stands: | |
| Rude stones, that once, perchance, with beaming grace | |
| Had glowed in statues, strew its circling base; | |
| Though crushed the halls that Time’s dread secrets keep, | 5 |
| Still, stage on stage, the crumbling platforms sweep: | |
| High on its brow a dark mass rears its form, | |
| Defying ages, mocking fire and storm: | |
| Struck by a thousand lightnings, still ’t is there, | |
| As proud in ruin, haughty in despair. | 10 |
| O oldest fabric reared by hands of man! | |
| Built ere Art’s dawn on Europe’s shores began! | |
| Rome’s mouldering shrines, and Tadmor’s columns gray, | |
| Beside yon mass, seem things of yesterday! | |
| In breathless awe, in musing reverence, bow, | 15 |
| ’T is hoary Babel glooms before you now; | |
| The tower at which the Almighty’s shaft was hurled, | |
| The mystery, fear, and wonder of the world! | | | | |
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