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Home  »  The Book of the Sonnet  »  Edmund Ollier (1827–1886)

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

V. The Subject of Babylon Continued (II.)

Edmund Ollier (1827–1886)

AND on the top of all the wind-blown towers,

The thronging terraces, and ramparts fair,

And the flat house-roof scorching in the air,

Elysian gardens bloomed with breadths of flowers,

And clouds of moist green leaves, that tenderly

Cooled the fierce radiance sight could scarcely bear;

Or over grassy lawns hung fluttering high,

Like birds upon the wing, half pausing there;

Shadows, where winds drooped lingering with a sigh.

And there were fountains all of beaten gold,

That seemed alive with staring imagery,

Fantastical as death; from which forth rolled,

Like spirits out of Sleep’s enchanted ground,

Far-flashing streams, that flung a light all round.