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Little Masterpieces of English Poetry: Idyls and stories in verse.
Little Masterpieces of English Poetry Idyls and stories in verse Author:Henry Van Dyke Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Make thine heart ready with thine eyes: the time Is come to raise the veil. Behold her there, As I beheld her ere she knew my heart, 27 My first, last ... more »love; the idol of my youth, The darling of my manhood, and, alas! Now the most blessed memory of mine age. 1842. Lord Tennyson. LOVE AMONG THE RUINS Where the quiet-colored end of evening smiles Miles and miles On the solitary pastures where our sheep Ha If-asleep Tinkle homeward through the twilight, stray or stop As they crop — Was the site once of a city great and gay, (So they say) Of our country's very capital, its prince Ages since Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far Peace or war. " Now,—the country does not even boast a tree, As you see, To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills From the hills Intersect and give a name to, (else they run Into one,) Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires Up like fires O'er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall Bounding all, Made of marble, men might march on nor be pressed, Twelve abreast. 4 And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass Never was! Such a carpet as, this summer-time, o'erspreads And embeds Every vestige of the city, guessed alone, Stock or stone— Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe Long ago; Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame ' Struck them tame; And that glory and that shame alike, the gold Bought and sold. 36 Now,—the single little turret that remains On the plains, By the caper overrooted, by the gourd Over scored, While the patching houseleek's head of blossom winks Through the chinks— Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time Sprang sublime, And a burning ring, all round, the chariot...« less