Page:Writings of Oscar Wilde - Volume 01.djvu/53

Rh White-limbed and terrible, with look of pride, And leash of boar-hounds leaping at her side! Or Hylas mirrored in the perfect stream.


 * O idle heart! O fond Hellenic dream!

Ere long, with melancholy rise and swell, The evening chimes, the convent's vesper-bell Struck on mine ears amid the amorous flowers. Alas! alas! these sweet and honied hours Had 'whelmed my heart like some encroaching sea, And drowned all thoughts of black Gethsemane.


 * O lone Ravenna! many a tale is told

Of thy great glories in the days of old: Two thousand years have passed since thou didst see Caesar ride forth to royal victory. Mighty thy name when Rome's lean eagles flew From Britain's isles to far Euphrates blue; And of the peoples thou wast noble queen, Till in thy streets the Goth and Hun were seen. Discrowned by man, deserted by the sea, Thou sleepest, rocked in lonely misery!