MANY a vanished year and age, And tempest's breath, and battle's rage, Have swept o'er Corinth; yet she stands A fortress formed to Freedom's hands. The whirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock, Have left untouched her hoary rock, The keystone of a land which still, Though fallen, looks proudly on that hill, The landmark to the double tide That purpling rolls on either side, As if their waters chafed to meet, Yet pause and crouch beneath her feet. But could the blood before her shed Since first Timoleon's brother bled, Or baffled Persia's despot fled, Arise from out the earth which drank The stream of slaughter as it sank, That sanguine ocean would o'erflow Her isthmus idly spread below: Or could the bones of all the slain Who perished there be piled again, That rival pyramid would rise More mountain-like through those clear skies, Than you tower-capped Acropolis, Which seems the very clouds to kiss. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BALLAD by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY A TOWN WINDOW by JOHN DRINKWATER BOOKER T. WASHINGTON by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE GLOVE AND THE LIONS by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT THALIA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH ODE TO THE PAST by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |