Were idols, fern-clad to the knees,

And scattered round, in pale decay,

The ruins of old temples lay.

Altars of many a mythic age,

Forgotten even on history’s page,

With sacrificial knife and brand,

Arose, like tombs, on either hand.

And each one seemed to ask, though not

A word disturbed that haunted spot,

For some one, who, with eye of lynx,