 | The poems and prose writings of Sumner Lincoln Fairfield |  |
Pansa, meantime, in gladiator guise,
By other paths had hurried from the scene;
And though the shuddering earth, and lurid heavens
Writhed as in immortal agonies, and shrieks
And death groans rose through all Pompeii's bounds,
Yet on he rushed—fearless though fraught with fear.
Vesuvius poured its deluge forth, the sea
Shuddered and sent unearthly voices up,
The isles of beauty, by the fire and surge
Shaken and withered, on the troubled waves
Looked down like spirits blasted; and the land
Of Italy's one paradise became
The home of ruin—vineyard, grove and bower,
Tree, shrub, fruit, blossom—love, life, light, and hope,
All vanishing beneath the fossil flood
And storm of ashes from the cloven brow
Of the dread mountain hurled in horror down.
The echoes of ten thousand agonies
Arose from mount and shore, and some looked back
Cursing, and more bewailing as they fled,
With glowing marl or ashes on their heads.
By other paths had hurried from the scene;
And though the shuddering earth, and lurid heavens
Writhed as in immortal agonies, and shrieks
And death groans rose through all Pompeii's bounds,
Yet on he rushed—fearless though fraught with fear.
Vesuvius poured its deluge forth, the sea
Shuddered and sent unearthly voices up,
The isles of beauty, by the fire and surge
Shaken and withered, on the troubled waves
Looked down like spirits blasted; and the land
Of Italy's one paradise became
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Tree, shrub, fruit, blossom—love, life, light, and hope,
All vanishing beneath the fossil flood
And storm of ashes from the cloven brow
Of the dread mountain hurled in horror down.
The echoes of ten thousand agonies
Arose from mount and shore, and some looked back
Cursing, and more bewailing as they fled,
With glowing marl or ashes on their heads.
| The poems and prose writings of Sumner Lincoln Fairfield | |