Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Africa: Vol. XXIV. 1876–79. | | | | Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia: Alexandria | | Alexandria | | Nicholas Michell (1807–1880) |
| | (From Ruins of Many Lands)
ONE city yet, and Nile’s time-hallowed shore | |
| Our fondly lingering step detains no more. | |
| Domes, minarets, their spiry heads that rear, | |
| Mocking with gaudy hues the ruins near; | |
| Dim crumbling colonnades, and marble walls, | 5 |
| Rich columns, broken statues, roofless halls; | |
| Beauty, deformity, together thrown, | |
| A maze of ruins, date, design unknown,— | |
| Such is the scene, the conquest Time hath won, | |
| Such the famed city built by Philip’s son. | 10 |
| Ah me! mid tottering towers, and regal tombs, | |
| Tall sculptured columns, echoing catacombs, | |
| How Turkish piles, and works of modern art, | |
| Chafe with romance, and bid high dreams depart! | | | | |
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