The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | ||
XXIII. VENICE BY DAY.
The splendour of the Orient, here of oldThroned with the West upon a waveless sea,
Her various-vested, resonant jubilee
Maintains, though Venice hath her freedom sold:
In their high stalls of azure and of gold
Yet stand, above the servile concourse free,
Those brazen steeds the Car of Victory
Hither from far Byzantium's porch that rolled.
The wingèd Lions, Time's dejected thralls,
Glare with furled plumes. The pictured shapes that glow
Like sunset clouds condensed upon the walls
Still boast old wars, or feasts of long ago:
And still the sun his amplest glory pours
On all those swelling domes and ocean floors.
The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | ||