 | Christ's Company and Other Poems |  |
167
Babylon and Nineveh.
From desert land the Arab sheikh is come across the southern sea;
And now his camel skirts the wastes that lead him through the old Chaldee;
He watches not the gannet flying over towards the setting sun,
But marks the bittern and its shadow on the pools of Babylon.
And now his camel skirts the wastes that lead him through the old Chaldee;
He watches not the gannet flying over towards the setting sun,
But marks the bittern and its shadow on the pools of Babylon.
'Twas written in the Burden her destruction should as sudden be
As Sodom and Gomorrah sunk beneath the waters of the sea;
And still they say that often he who sails upon those languid waves,
At ebb sees whitely gleaming palaces and spires in ocean caves,
As Sodom and Gomorrah sunk beneath the waters of the sea;
And still they say that often he who sails upon those languid waves,
At ebb sees whitely gleaming palaces and spires in ocean caves,
168
As underneath the ocean are preserved the Cities of the Plain,
So by the fire preserved to us, the towers of Bel and Nin remain;
No earthquake could have kept them as the fire that wrought their overthrow;
And every age has deeper sealed that mortal sleep so soft and low.
So by the fire preserved to us, the towers of Bel and Nin remain;
No earthquake could have kept them as the fire that wrought their overthrow;
And every age has deeper sealed that mortal sleep so soft and low.
And rivers that run swiftly thither from the mountains of their birth,
Go ever from them slowly, big with slime, and dust, and fire-baked earth:
Then all their ancient limits on their heedless way they overpass,
Until at last the plain is swamped beneath the festering morass.
Go ever from them slowly, big with slime, and dust, and fire-baked earth:
Then all their ancient limits on their heedless way they overpass,
Until at last the plain is swamped beneath the festering morass.
Ah! once their cry was in their ships; the old Phœnician galleys went
From thence; and Tyre and Sidon were Chaldea's mighty monument:
Ponders the lonely sheikh, as o'er the waste the swinging camel speeds;
The Kufa far behind him with its steersman dark and gaunt recedes.
From thence; and Tyre and Sidon were Chaldea's mighty monument:
Ponders the lonely sheikh, as o'er the waste the swinging camel speeds;
The Kufa far behind him with its steersman dark and gaunt recedes.
169
Then here is Babylon: behold the fiery cloud of the simoon
Hangs o'er its shapeless mounds in vaporous setting of the afternoon;
So o'er a lonely gravestone might a widow's dusky garments sweep,
As that wild wanderer surveys it from Borsippa's crumbled steep.
Hangs o'er its shapeless mounds in vaporous setting of the afternoon;
So o'er a lonely gravestone might a widow's dusky garments sweep,
As that wild wanderer surveys it from Borsippa's crumbled steep.
Beneath those quiet heaps how many dead are sleeping; there they lie,
The old Chaldean glory, all the pomp and all the imag'ry;
The temples and the palaces, the hanging gardens and the walls,
The friezes upon pavements strewn, the bases upon capitals.
The old Chaldean glory, all the pomp and all the imag'ry;
The temples and the palaces, the hanging gardens and the walls,
The friezes upon pavements strewn, the bases upon capitals.
Still rises here the Kasr, Nebúchadnezzar reared in days fifteen,
And fronting it in solemn state the huger Babil mound is seen;
And once upon that very place where now he stands upon the Tel,
Stood bearded kings and sages, and the votive offerings smoked to Bel.
And fronting it in solemn state the huger Babil mound is seen;
And once upon that very place where now he stands upon the Tel,
Stood bearded kings and sages, and the votive offerings smoked to Bel.
170
To the seven planets rose that temple with its chord of colours bright;
To form the planetary spheres the sacred band of hues unite;
Black, orange, red, gold, yellow, blue, the silver symbol of the moon,
And so sprang the storeys in a mystic harmony of tune.
To form the planetary spheres the sacred band of hues unite;
Black, orange, red, gold, yellow, blue, the silver symbol of the moon,
And so sprang the storeys in a mystic harmony of tune.
From mound to mound the grass is spread, by ruin raised in swathes of green;
It leads the eye from height to height o'er all the mute and desert scene;
And here are recent traces where some roving Arab camp was laid:
It was the caravan that here one little stage its journey stayed.
It leads the eye from height to height o'er all the mute and desert scene;
And here are recent traces where some roving Arab camp was laid:
It was the caravan that here one little stage its journey stayed.
Do not these vestiges of man unseal the giant grave beneath?
The latest trace of human life interpret best the ancient death?
More ghastly are the cinders of the latest fire that here was lit,
Than mound of ruin sleeping calmly with the smouldering cloud on it.
The latest trace of human life interpret best the ancient death?
More ghastly are the cinders of the latest fire that here was lit,
Than mound of ruin sleeping calmly with the smouldering cloud on it.
171
And 'twixt this generation and the last a distance intervenes,
More vast than lies between the many centuries the ruin screens:
Than lies between the king the Persian army slew, and Naram-sin,—
The king who ruled primevally before the sceptre passed to Nin.
More vast than lies between the many centuries the ruin screens:
Than lies between the king the Persian army slew, and Naram-sin,—
The king who ruled primevally before the sceptre passed to Nin.
In ruin all confounded lie; and Erech is their tranquil tomb;
Lo! far on the horizon looms the Babylonian catacomb;
There coffins, piled in mountains, of their ancient sleep are dispossessed
By hordes of shuddering Moslems and the busy searchers of the West.
Lo! far on the horizon looms the Babylonian catacomb;
There coffins, piled in mountains, of their ancient sleep are dispossessed
By hordes of shuddering Moslems and the busy searchers of the West.
They yield them from their cedar shelves and crumble from their stony bier;
They sink upon the alien decks; on river drifts they disappear;
And gain far off a foreign home, by stranger eyes and hands defiled;
From this depopulated land the very dead shall be exiled.
They sink upon the alien decks; on river drifts they disappear;
And gain far off a foreign home, by stranger eyes and hands defiled;
From this depopulated land the very dead shall be exiled.
172
To north, behold, another river pours its life-blood to the sea;
Behold another city-circle girding ancient Nineveh;
Most ancient Asshur, holy Calah, Arbil, Khazah, Khorsabad;
Half were capitals, ere Nineveh herself the chief dominion had.
Behold another city-circle girding ancient Nineveh;
Most ancient Asshur, holy Calah, Arbil, Khazah, Khorsabad;
Half were capitals, ere Nineveh herself the chief dominion had.
And now they lie around her, now the sorrow of the earth on all;
Strange silence that hath long endured, and coldness in the charnel hall;
What man dare sit within it, as the tunnelled light is stealing round
On sculptured slabs of pallid stone, that form the walls, and strew the ground?
Strange silence that hath long endured, and coldness in the charnel hall;
What man dare sit within it, as the tunnelled light is stealing round
On sculptured slabs of pallid stone, that form the walls, and strew the ground?
The fire-bleached gypsum shines again, the awful bearded kings are viewed
Amid the courts where once they wrote their deeds in living attitude;
'Tis they who taught the sword to range in ways before unknown to man
From Zagros to the Western Sea, from Egypt to the Caspian.
Amid the courts where once they wrote their deeds in living attitude;
'Tis they who taught the sword to range in ways before unknown to man
From Zagros to the Western Sea, from Egypt to the Caspian.
173
On swords this first of empires rose, and not as bringing peace by war
They ruled o'er prostrate nations, but as warrior o'er warrior;
Each king his standard drew along the scene of his forefathers' toils,
As rends the griffin o'er and o'er the dragon's still rebelling coils.
They ruled o'er prostrate nations, but as warrior o'er warrior;
Each king his standard drew along the scene of his forefathers' toils,
As rends the griffin o'er and o'er the dragon's still rebelling coils.
Each king in god-like battle joy upon his warring chariot stands,
Scourging the prostrate foe with rain of bitter arrows from his hands;
They scale the walls of mighty forts, the rivers deep and wide they ford;
They cut their way through pathless woods, they build their city with the sword.
Scourging the prostrate foe with rain of bitter arrows from his hands;
They scale the walls of mighty forts, the rivers deep and wide they ford;
They cut their way through pathless woods, they build their city with the sword.
The eagle rides upon their rein; the winged circle with them speeds,
That living wheel prophetic, prescient, nimbus of eternal deeds;
And here behold the votive bulls, in mystic legend gravely wrought,
Ox-limbed for strength, gier-winged for speed, and fronted like a man for thought.
That living wheel prophetic, prescient, nimbus of eternal deeds;
And here behold the votive bulls, in mystic legend gravely wrought,
Ox-limbed for strength, gier-winged for speed, and fronted like a man for thought.
174
Ah! now they fade at once, in sudden waning of the Eastern light,
By grave and mound their multitudes are swallowed up in kindly night;
And whether night of hours of ages, matters not at all to Pul;
Yet that poor Arab waits for daylight in his lodging at Mosul.
By grave and mound their multitudes are swallowed up in kindly night;
And whether night of hours of ages, matters not at all to Pul;
Yet that poor Arab waits for daylight in his lodging at Mosul.
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