Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SMYRNA, by BAYARD TAYLOR


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SMYRNA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The 'ornament of asia' and the 'crown'
Last Line: Her rise, make asia's fall magnificent.
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): Asia; Beauty; Death; Nature; Sea; Far East; East Asia; Orient; Dead, The; Ocean


THE "Ornament of Asia" and the "Crown
Of fair Ionia." Yea; but Asia stands
No more an empress, and Ionia's hands
Have lost their sceptre. Thou, majestic town,
Art as a diamond on a faded robe:
The freshness of thy beauty scatters yet
The radiance of that sun of Empire set,
Whose disk sublime illumed the ancient globe.
Thou sitt'st between the mountains and the sea;
The sea and mountains flatter thine array,
And fill thy courts with Grandeur, not Decay;
And Power, not Death, proclaims thy cypress tree.
Through thee, the sovereign symbols Nature lent
Her rise, make Asia's fall magnificent.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net