24.06.2007, 10:40
I wandered in a city great and old,
At morn, at noon, and when the evening fell,
And round my spirit gathered like a spell
Its splendour and its tumult and its gold,
The mysteries and the memories of its years,
Its victors and fair women, all the life,
The joy, the power, the passion, and the strife,
Its sighs of hand-locked lovers, and its tears.
And whereso in that mighty city, free
And with clear eyes and eager heart I trod,
My thought became a passion high and strong,
And all the spirit of humanity,
Soft as a child and potent as a god,
Drew near to me, and rapt me like a song.
At morn, at noon, and when the evening fell,
And round my spirit gathered like a spell
Its splendour and its tumult and its gold,
The mysteries and the memories of its years,
Its victors and fair women, all the life,
The joy, the power, the passion, and the strife,
Its sighs of hand-locked lovers, and its tears.
And whereso in that mighty city, free
And with clear eyes and eager heart I trod,
My thought became a passion high and strong,
And all the spirit of humanity,
Soft as a child and potent as a god,
Drew near to me, and rapt me like a song.