Is vain; the things I built are shattered now,
My task is done, the task I dared not shirk;
And I am very tired. Nydia, come!
Come as you came that day down the green walk,
The day I rode in triumph back to Rome,
After the Cimbri had been crushed—and talk,
Talk as we talked that day beside the pool,
Shadowed by ilex, where the golden hearts
Of lilies burned within the water cool,—
Nydia! But she stays not, she departs!