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(From The Task, Book V)
LESS worthy of applause, though more admired, | |
| Because a novelty, the work of man, | |
| Imperial mistress of the fur-clad Russ, | |
| Thy most magnificent and mighty freak, | |
| The wonder of the North. No forest fell | 5 |
| When thou wouldst build; no quarry sent its stores | |
| To enrich thy walls; but thou didst hew the floods, | |
| And make thy marble of the glassy wave. | |
| In such a palace Aristæus found | |
| Cyrene, when he bore the plaintive tale | 10 |
| Of his lost Bees to her maternal ear: | |
| In such a palace Poetry might place | |
| The armory of Winter; where his troops, | |
| The gloomy clouds, find weapons, arrowy sleet, | |
| Skin-piercing volley, blossom-bruising hail, | 15 |
| And snow, that often blinds the traveller’s course, | |
| And wraps him in an unexpected tomb. | |
| Silently as a dream the fabric rose; | |
| No sound of hammer or of saw was there: | |
| Ice upon ice, the well-adjusted parts | 20 |
| Were soon conjoined, nor other cement asked | |
| Than water interfused to make them one. | |
| Lamps gracefully disposed, and of all hues, | |
| Illumined every side: a watery light | |
| Gleamed through the clear transparency, that seemed | 25 |
| Another moon new risen, or meteor fallen | |
| From heaven to earth, of lambent flame serene. | |
| So stood the brittle prodigy; though smooth | |
| And slippery the materials, yet frost-bound | |
| Firm as a rock. Nor wanted aught within, | 30 |
| That royal residence might well befit | |
| For grandeur or for use. Long wavy wreaths | |
| Of flowers, that feared no enemy but warmth, | |
| Blushed on the panels. Mirror needed none | |
| Where all was vitreous; but, in order due, | 35 |
| Convivial table and commodious seat | |
| (What seemed, at least, commodious seat) were there; | |
| Sofa and couch and high-built throne august. | |
| The same lubricity was found in all: | |
| And all was moist to the warm touch; a scene | 40 |
| Of evanescent glory,—once a stream, | |
| And soon to slide into a stream again. | |
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