Through the shakes and the knocks of the earthquake shocks it is upside down and awry, So that 'neath the Fish is Arcturus sunk, while the fish is raised to the sky. That fury and force have run their course, and its buildings are overthrown, And riven and ruined are whole and part, and the parts asunder strown. Not in worship, I ween, are its chapels seen with spires on the ground low lying, While the minarets stoop or bend in a loop, but not at the bedesmen's crying. The libraries are all upside down, and the colleges all forsaken, And the Friday Mosque in ruins is laid, and the pulpits are shattered and shaken. Yet do not suppose that this ruin arose from the town's ill destiny, But ask of me if thou fain wouldst see the wherefore of this and the why. 'Twas because the Lord had such high regard for this old and famous place that He turned His gaze on its fashions and ways with the eyes of favor and grace, And such was the awe which His glance inspired, and His Light's effulgent rays That with shaking feet to earth it fell for fear of that awful blaze. For did not the Mountain of Sinai once fall down and crumble away Which Moses stood, and the Face of God to behold with his eyes did pray? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE OLD WOMAN by JOSEPH CAMPBELL ON A VIRTUOUS YOUNG GENTLEWOMAN THAT DIED SUDDENLY by WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT ODE TO FORTUNE by FITZ-GREENE HALLECK A CELEBRATION OF CHARIS: 5. HIS DISCOURSE WITH CUPID by BEN JONSON IDYLLS OF THE KING: GERAINT AND ENID by ALFRED TENNYSON A TOMB BY THE SEA by AULUS LICINIUS ARCHIAS SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 7. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |