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AN IMPERIAL MEMORY
On that expectant eve, before the dayWhen she that ruled us went into the night,
I looked across the wave with misted sight
To yonder isle where dying puissance lay.
And like a valediction the last ray
Haunted her seas; and a great crimson light
Brake from the depth and triumphed on the height
And seemed to burn all mortal veils away.
“In splendour is she fleeted hence,” said one;
Whose comrade answered: “Augury unblest!
The hue of War attends her setting sun.”
And far her billows flamed through East and West.
But she beside some mainland's utter rest
Ev'n then was anchored close, her voyaging done.
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