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Of their own dissolution, while they die – Adorning then the dwellings of the sky. A dome, by linked light from Heaven let down, Sat gently on these columns as a crown – A window of one circular diamond, there, Look'd out above into the purple air, And rays from God shot down that meteor chain And hallow'd all the beauty twice again, Save, when, between th' empyrean and that ring, Some eager spirit flapp'd his dusky wing. But on the pillars Seraph eyes have seen The dimness of this world: that greyish green That Nature loves the best Beauty's grave Lurk'd in each cornice, round each architrave – And every sculptur'd cherub thereabout That from his marble dwelling peered out, Seem'd earthly in the shadow of his niche – Achaian statues in a world so rich! Friezes from Tadmor and Persepolis – From Balbec, and the stilly, clear abyss