I STOOD upon a dizzy roof which towered Above the serried city's chimneyed miles. The canyons of the streets, like narrow aisles, Stretched far away to where the cloud mists lowered; I, gazing, felt the nerve fright of a coward, So small was I, so great the plain of tiles Which sheltered all those steel-supported piles; My senses shook, with vastness overpowered. But not alone from danger of the height, Nor from that scene's immense, gray mystery Did tremblings come. There swam before my sight The roofs of Babylon which used to be As stanch as these. Yet now the morning light Reveals but mounds of vanished majesty. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...STRANGE MEETINGS: 1 by HAROLD MONRO SEA UNICORNS AND LAND UNICORNS by MARIANNE MOORE THE PROUD MISS MACBRIDE; A LEGEND OF GOTHAM by JOHN GODFREY SAXE ON KEATS, WHO DESIRED THAT ON HIS TOMB SHOULD BE INSCRIBED: by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE NEW TIMON AND THE POETS by ALFRED TENNYSON THE RAIN ON THE ROOF by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON CHILDISH RECOLLECTIONS by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |