From pole to pole the livid lightnings flash
Till all creation trembles 'neath the crash;
And earthward, still, the melting heavens bend,
While blinding floods of hissing flames descend,
And seas of lava, with three mighty bounds,
The now doomed city and the plain surrounds.
Now, inward flowing, rolls the mighty tide,
On whose dread billows death alone can ride;
And upward rising, with tremendous sweep,
Its molten billows awful union keep