The City in the Sea

Lo! Death has reared himself a throne

In a strange city lying alone

Lo! a strange town, lying alone

Death has reared himself a throne

Far down in the west

Where the good, bad, worst, and the best have gone to their eternal rest

There, shrine and towers:

Death has reared himself a throne

Time eaten-towers that tremble not

Resemble nothing, nothing that is ours

Down, down in that town, shall settle hence:

Hell, rising from its throne, no earthly moans,

Shall do it reverence

On the long night-time of that town

But light from the lurid sea

Streams up the turrets silently

Gleams up the pinnacles far and free

Up domes, up spires, up kingly halls,

Up fanes, up Babylon-like walls

No swellings tell that winds may be

Upon some far-off happy seas

No heavings hint that winds have been

On seas less hideously serene

But lo, a stir is in the air!

The wave - there is a movement there!

As if the towes had thrust aside,

In slightly sinking, the dull tide;

Aquiescently beneath the sky

The melancholy waters lie

The waves have now a redder glow

The hours are breathing faint and low

And when, amid no earthly moans

Down, down in the town shall settle hence,

Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,

Shall do it reverence

Down, down in that town, shall settle hence:

Hell, rising from its throne, no earthly moans,

Shall do it reverence

Three opens fanes and gaping graves

Yawn level with the luminous waves

But not the riches there that lie

In each idol's diamond eye

Not the gaily-jewelled dead

Tempt the waters from their bed

So blend the turrets, shadows there

That all seem pendulous in air

While from a tower in the town

Death looks down

But lo, a stir is in the air!

The waves have now a redder glow

The hours are breathing faint and low

And when amid no earthly moans,

Down, down in that town shall settle hence:

Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,

Shall do it reverence

Far down within the dim West

Where the good and the band and

The worst and the best

Have gone to their eternal rest

Waves have now

A red glow

Hours breathe low

No men moan