A CLASSIC ODE
Reading edition
Oh, limpid stream of Tyrus, now I hear The pulsing wings of Armageddon's host, Clear as a colcothar and yet more clear— (Twin orbs, like those of which the Parsees boast;)
Down in thy pebbled deeps in early spring The dimpled naiads sport, as in the time When Ocidelus with untiring wing Drave teams of prancing tigers, 'mid the chime
Of all the bells of Phicol. Scarcely one Peristome veils its beauties now, but then— Like nascent diamonds, sparkling in the sun, Or sainfoin, circinate, or moss in marshy fen.
Loud as the blasts of Tubal, loud and strong, Sweet as the songs of Sappho, aye more sweet; Long as the spear of Arnon, twice as long, What time he hurled it at King Pharaoh's feet.
Charles Battell Loomis.