I. 21
“What though their founder fill’d with miracles
“And wealth miraculous their ample vaults?
“Compar’d with yonder fabric, and they shrink
“The baby wonders of a woman’s work!
“Here emerald columns o’er the marble courts
“Fling their green rays, as when amid a shower
“The sun shines loveliest on the vernal corn.
“Here Shedad bade the sapphire floor be laid,
“As though with feet divine
“To trample azure light,
“Like the blue pavement of the firmament.
“Here self-suspended hangs in air,
“As its pure substance loath’d material touch,
“The living carbuncle;
“Sun of the lofty dome,
“Darkness hath no dominion o’er its beams;
“Intense it glows, an ever-flowing tide
“Of glory, like the day-flood in its source.
“Impious! the Trees of vegetable gold,
“Such as in Eden’s groves
“Yet innocent it grew;
“Impious! he made his boast, though heaven had hid
“So deep the baneful ore,
“And wealth miraculous their ample vaults?
“Compar’d with yonder fabric, and they shrink
“The baby wonders of a woman’s work!
“Here emerald columns o’er the marble courts
“Fling their green rays, as when amid a shower
“The sun shines loveliest on the vernal corn.
“Here Shedad bade the sapphire floor be laid,
“As though with feet divine
“To trample azure light,
“Like the blue pavement of the firmament.
“Here self-suspended hangs in air,
“As its pure substance loath’d material touch,
“The living carbuncle;
“Sun of the lofty dome,
“Darkness hath no dominion o’er its beams;
“Intense it glows, an ever-flowing tide
“Of glory, like the day-flood in its source.
“Impious! the Trees of vegetable gold,
“Such as in Eden’s groves
“Yet innocent it grew;
“Impious! he made his boast, though heaven had hid
“So deep the baneful ore,
