Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Africa: Vol. XXIV. 1876–79. | | | | Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia: Alexandria | | Alexandria | | William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850) |
| | (From The Spirit of Discovery by Sea)
STAND on the gleaming Pharos, and aloud | |
| Shout, Commerce, to the kingdoms of the earth; | |
| Shout, for thy golden portals are set wide, | |
| And all thy streamers o’er the surge, aloft, | |
| In pomp triumphant wave. The weary way | 5 |
| That pale Nearchus passed, from creek to creek | |
| Advancing slow, no longer bounds the track | |
| Of the adventurous mariner, who steers | |
| Steady, with eye intent upon the stars, | |
| To Elam’s echoing port. Meantime, more high | 10 |
| Aspiring, o’er the Western main her towers | |
| The imperial city lifts, the central mart | |
| Of nations, and beneath the calm clear sky, | |
| At distance from the palmy marge, displays | |
| Her clustering columns, whitening to the morn. | 15 |
| Damascus’ fleece, Golconda’s gems, are there. | |
| Murmurs the haven with one ceaseless hum; | |
| The hurrying camel’s bell, the driver’s song, | |
| Along the sands resound. Tyre, art thou fallen? | |
| A prouder city crowns the inland sea, | 20 |
| Raised by his hand who smote thee; as if thus | |
| His mighty mind were swayed to recompense | |
| The evil of his march through cities stormed, | |
| And regions wet with blood! and still had flowed | |
| The tide of commerce through the destined track, | 25 |
| Traced by his mind sagacious, who surveyed | |
| The world he conquered with a sage’s eye, | |
| As with a soldier’s spirit. | | | | |
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