Chronicles and Characters :: :: University of Virginia Library

So forth, on the vacant terrace there,
Overlooking the mighty slope
Of never-ending marble stair,
'Twixt the great church and the great square,
Stood the dead Pope.
On either side glade heap'd on glade
Of colossal colonnade,

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Lost, at last, in vague and vast
Recesses of repeated shade
By those stupendous columns cast;
In midst of which, as they sang and play'd,
(Fire and sound!) the fountains made
Under the low faint starlight, laid
Not far above their splendours bright,
Fresh interchange of laughters light,
Mixt with the murmur of the might
Of royal Rome which, dim in sight,
Revelling under the redness wide
Of lamps now winking from hollow and height,
With a voice of pride on every side
Lay ready to receive the night.