XXXI
FLOWERS ON THE TOP OF THE PILLARS AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE CAVE
Hope smiled when your nativity was cast,
Children of Summer![907] Ye fresh Flowers that brave
What Summer here escapes not, the fierce wave,
And whole artillery of the western blast,
Battering the Temple's front, its long-drawn nave 5
Smiting, as if each moment were their last.
But ye, bright Flowers, on frieze and architrave
Survive,[908] and once again the Pile stands fast;
Calm as the Universe, from specular towers
Of heaven contemplated by Spirits pure 10
With mute astonishment, it stands sustained
Through every part in symmetry, to endure,[909]
Unhurt, the assault of Time with all his hours,
As the supreme Artificer ordained.[910]
FOOTNOTES:
[907] Upon the head of the columns which form the front of the cave, rests a body of decomposed basaltic matter, which was richly decorated with that large bright flower, the ox-eyed daisy. I had[911] noticed the same flower growing with profusion among the bold rocks on the western coast of the Isle of Man; making a brilliant contrast with their black and gloomy surfaces.—W. W. 1835.
[908] They still survive, and flourish above the pillars.—Ed.
[909] 1840 and C.
Suns and their systems, diverse yet sustained
In symmetry, and fashioned to endure, 1835.
[910] 1835.
As the Supreme Geometer ordained.
MS.