From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound,
Crushing the cliffs, which downward, worn and rent
With his fierce footsteps, yields in chasms a fearful rent....
Horribly beautiful! but, on the verge
From side to side, beneath the glittering morn,
An Iris sits amidst the infernal surge,
Like Hope upon a deathbed.
The 'enormous skeleton' of Rome impresses him most by moonlight:
When the rising moon begins to climb
Its topmost arch, and gently pauses there;