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Vanished like a fleet of cloud, Like a passing trumpet-blast, Are those splendors of the past And the commerce and the crowd! Fathoms deep beneath the seas Lie the ancient wharves and quays,

Swallowed by the engulfing waves; Silent streets and vacant halls, Ruined roofs and towers and walls; Hidden from all mortal eyes Deep the sunken city lies: Even cities have their graves!

This is an enchanted land! Round the headlands far away Sweeps the blue Salernian bay With its sickle of white sand: Further still and furthermost On the dim discovered coast Paestum with its ruins lies,

And its roses all in bloom Seem to tinge the fatal skies Of that lonely land of doom.