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First Line: Where the thracian channel roars
Last Line: Crowns the busy scene below.
Alternate Author Name(s): Aikin, Anna Letitia


Where the Thracian channel roars
On lordly Europe's eastern shores,
Where the proudly jutting land
Frowns on Asia's western strand,
High on seven hills is seen to shine
The second Rome of Constantine.
Beneath her feet with graceful pride
Propontis spreads his ample tide,
His fertile banks profusely pour
Of luscious fruits a varied store,
Rich with a thousand glittering dyes
His flood a finny shoal supplies,
While crowding sails on rapid wing
The rifled south's bright treasures bring.
With crescents gleaming to the skies
Mosques and minarets arise,
Mounted on whose topmost wall
The turban'd priests to worship call;
The mournful cypress rises round
Tap'ring from the burial-ground;
Olympus ever capp'd with snow
Crowns the busy scene below.





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