Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VENICE BY DAY by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE

First Line: THE SPLENDOUR OF THE ORIENT, HERE OF OLD
Subject(s): TRAVEL;
THE splendour of the Orient, here of old
Throned with the West, upon a waveless sea,
Her various-vested, resonant jubilee
Maintains, though Venice hath been bought and sold.
In their high stalls of azure and of gold
Yet stand, above the servile concourse free,
Those brazen steeds-the Car of Victory
Hither from far Byzantium's porch that rolled.
The winged Lions, Time's dejected thralls,
Glare with furled plumes. The pictured shapes that glow
Like sunset clouds condensed upon the walls,
Still boast old wars, or feasts of long ago:
And still the sun his amplest glory pours
On all those swelling domes and watery floors.




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