Take through eternity thy course, and then
Tell me of where she is, what is her state?
Happy or miserable? or again,
We should rejoice in, or lament her fate?
To thee I may repeat it, others gay
Will laugh at my dark fancy; not long past
The time I was by that enchanting bay
Of the Tyrrhenian sea; the city vast,
Mother of pleasures, I forsook, and bent,
Absorbed, my feeble steps, where lowly lies
Pompeii; palaces with gardens blent
And fountains brilliant, shone before my eyes;
But deeper penetrates the mind, and sad,
Slowly along I went with heavy heart:
Flowers amid lava grew! and rich, and glad
Today the scenes on every side impart
The towns and villages, which others hide
That stood as happy there a former day;
Those now that flourish built up by the side
Of some forgotten that have passed away.
At length I came where we the walls descry
Of the deserted city, which the abode
Proclaim'd it was of men in times gone by;
Page:Modern poets and poetry of Spain.djvu/241
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FRANCISCO MARTINEZ DE LA ROSA.
195
