| |
| WHERE are the cities of the plain? | |
| And where the shrines of rapt Bethel? | |
| And Calah built of Tubal-Cain? | |
| And Shinar whence King Amraphel | |
| Came out in arms and fought, and fell, | 5 |
| Decoyed into the pits of slime | |
| By Siddim and sent sheer to hell; | |
| Where are the cities of old time? | |
| |
| Where now is Karnak, that great fane, | |
| With granite built, a miracle? | 10 |
| And Luxor smooth without a stain, | |
| Whose graven scripture still we spell? | |
| The jackal and the owl may tell; | |
| Dark snakes around their ruins climb, | |
| They fade like echo in a shell; | 15 |
| Where are the cities of old time? | |
| |
| And where is white Shushan, again, | |
| Where Vashti’s beauty bore the bell, | |
| And all the Jewish oil and grain | |
| Were brought to Mithridath to sell, | 20 |
| Where Nehemiah would not dwell, | |
| Because another town sublime | |
| Decoyed him with her oracle? | |
| Where are the cities of old time? | |
| |
Envoi Prince, with a dolorous, ceaseless knell, | 25 |
| Above their wasted toil and crime | |
| The waters of oblivion swell: | |
| Where are the cities of old time? | |
| |
