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Still, still I see that horrid wild!
Where lovely cities gaily smil'd,
Rocks, ruins, pillars, mountains frown,
And echo to the dismal groan
Of sorrow and of pain.
Vainly yon buried wretches strive,
Ne'er shall they leave those walls alive.
You frantic mother, to her breast
Her lifeless child has fondly prest,
Nor knows her cares are vain.
There dead and dying men I see,
In every form of misery;
Those sounds of woe, those sights of fear,
I still must see, I still must hear,
With brain to madness driv'n.
But what is yonder blazing light,
That glares upon my aching sight.
Now soars in dazzling columns high,
Now casts red radiance on the sky,
And lights the eastern Heav'n?
Where lovely cities gaily smil'd,
Rocks, ruins, pillars, mountains frown,
And echo to the dismal groan
Of sorrow and of pain.
Vainly yon buried wretches strive,
Ne'er shall they leave those walls alive.
You frantic mother, to her breast
Her lifeless child has fondly prest,
Nor knows her cares are vain.
There dead and dying men I see,
In every form of misery;
Those sounds of woe, those sights of fear,
I still must see, I still must hear,
With brain to madness driv'n.
But what is yonder blazing light,
That glares upon my aching sight.
Now soars in dazzling columns high,
Now casts red radiance on the sky,
And lights the eastern Heav'n?
