Page:Tales and Historic Scenes.pdf/103

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When moss-clad wrecks alone record There dwelt the world's departed lord In scenes where verdure's rich array Still sheds young beauty o'er decay, And sunshine on each glowing hill, Midst ruins finds a dwelling still.

Sunk is thy palace, but thy tomb, Hadrian! hath shared a prouder doom,3 Though vanish'd with the days of old Its pillars of Corinthian mould; And the fair forms by sculpture wrought, Each bodying some immortal thought, Which o'er that temple of the dead, Serene, but solemn beauty shed, Have found, like glory's self, a grave In time's abyss, or Tiber's wave:4 Yet dreams more lofty, and more fair, Than art's bold hand hath imaged e'er, High thoughts of many a mighty mind, Expanding when all else declined, In twilight years, when only they Recall'd the radiance pass'd away,