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500
ON A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE COLISEUM.
Here was the heart of Rome. Her lust of blood,'Gainst which so long the nations of the earth
Cried vainly, here grew fiercer, or had birth,
Lapping in this vast murder-house the flood
Welling from veins of the wild savage brood
Of the strong North, here slaughter'd for her mirth.
Yet not in vain arose that cry of earth.
The avenging angel at God's footstool stood.
Sin is decay. The pitiless shall meet
No pity. Comes the Goth; the avenging day
Hastens to that fell call. The nations' feet
Quicken to hear it, on their road to slay.
To that, their hearts with lust of carnage beat;
Smit by that cry, Rome's red life shrieks away.
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