I |
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I
Many a vanish`d year and age,
And tempest`s breath, and battle`s rage,
Have swept o`er Corinth; yet she stands
A fortress form`d to Freedom`s hands.
The whirlwind`s wrath, the earthquake`s shock
Have left untouch`d her hoary rock,
The keystone of a land, which still,
Though fall`n, looks proudly on that hill,
The landmark to the double tide
That purpling rolls on either side,
As if their waters chafed to meet,
Yet pause and crouch beneath her feet.
But could the blood before her shed
Since first Timoleon`s brother bled,
Or baffled Persia`s despot fled,
Arise from out the earth which drank
The stream of slaughter as it sank,
That sanguine ocean would o`erflow
Her isthmus idly spread below:
Or could the bones of all the slain,
Who perish`d there, be piled again,
That rival pyramid would rise
More mountain-like, through those clear skies
Than yon tower-capp`d Acropolis,
Which seems the very clouds to kiss.
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