Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SMYRNA by BAYARD TAYLOR

First Line: THE 'ORNAMENT OF ASIA' AND THE 'CROWN'
Last Line: HER RISE, MAKE ASIA'S FALL MAGNIFICENT.
Subject(s): ASIA; BEAUTY; DEATH; NATURE; SEA; FAR EAST; EAST ASIA; ORIENT; DEAD, THE; OCEAN;

THE "Ornament of Asia" and the "Crown
Of fair Ionia." Yea; but Asia stands
No more an empress, and Ionia's hands
Have lost their sceptre. Thou, majestic town,
Art as a diamond on a faded robe:
The freshness of thy beauty scatters yet
The radiance of that sun of Empire set,
Whose disk sublime illumed the ancient globe.
Thou sitt'st between the mountains and the sea;
The sea and mountains flatter thine array,
And fill thy courts with Grandeur, not Decay;
And Power, not Death, proclaims thy cypress tree.
Through thee, the sovereign symbols Nature lent
Her rise, make Asia's fall magnificent.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net