 | Poems |  |
149
ANCIENT MEXICO.
Her day of glory past unsung,
She sleeps in evening's fading glow,
With bands of shadow o'er her flung—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
She sleeps in evening's fading glow,
With bands of shadow o'er her flung—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Around her tower the solemn hills,
Her lakes reposing far below;
Deep silence all her borders fills—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Her lakes reposing far below;
Deep silence all her borders fills—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
The busy tides of Aztec life
Have ebbed, no more again to flow;
'Tis o'er, the fever of the strife—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Have ebbed, no more again to flow;
'Tis o'er, the fever of the strife—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Her dark mysterious worship past,
Her teöcallis lying low,
Oblivion's night uprising fast,—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Her teöcallis lying low,
Oblivion's night uprising fast,—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
150
No longer thro' her noonday streets
Pass priestly pomp and regal show,
But shadow lengthening shadow meets—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Pass priestly pomp and regal show,
But shadow lengthening shadow meets—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
No fleet canoes adorn her lakes,
Nor garden-islands floating slow;
Nor song nor oar their silence breaks—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Nor garden-islands floating slow;
Nor song nor oar their silence breaks—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Her plumy robe and crown of gold
Are gone to alien and to foe;
The glory of her past uproll'd—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Are gone to alien and to foe;
The glory of her past uproll'd—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
Her nerveless arm hath lost the skill
To wield the axe, the lance to throw;
The warrior pulse for ever still—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
To wield the axe, the lance to throw;
The warrior pulse for ever still—
The sunbeams slant on Mexico.
She sits beside her inland sea
A queenly widow in her woe,
For only memories hath she—
The sun hath set on Mexico.
A queenly widow in her woe,
For only memories hath she—
The sun hath set on Mexico.
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