TYRE.
EZK. 26:3-5, 14,17.
In thought I saw the palace domes of Tyre,
The gorgeous treasures of her merchandise;
All her proud people in their brave attire,
Throngiug her streets for sport or sacrifice.
I saw her precious stones and spieeries,
The singing girl with flower-wreathed instrument,
And slaves whose beauty asked a monarch's price.
Forth from all lands all nations to her went,
And kings to her on embassy were sent.
I saw, with gilded prow and silken sail,
Her ships that of the sea had government.
O gallant ships, 'gainst you what might prevail?
She stood upon her rock, and in her pride
Of strength and beauty, waste and woe defied.
I looked again. I saw a lonely shore,
A rock amid the waters, and a waste
Of trackless sand; I heard the bleak sea's roar,
And winds that rose and fell with gusty haste.
There was one scathed tree, by storms defaced,
Round which the sea-birds wheeled with screaming cry;
Erelong came on a traveler, slowly paced;
Now east, now west, he turned with curious eye,
Like one perplexed with an uncertainty.
Awhile he looked upon the sea, and then
Upon a book, as if it might supply
The thing he lacked. He read and gazed again,
Yet as if unbelief so on him wrought
He might not deem this shore the shore he sought.
Again I saw him come. 'T was eventide;
The sun shone on the rock amid the sea;
The winds were hushed; the quiet billows sighed
With a low swell; the birds winged silently
Their evening flight around the scathed tree;
The fisher safely put into the bay,
And pushed his boat ashore; then gathered he
His nets, and hastening up the rocky way,
Spread them to catch the sun's warm evening ray.
I saw that stranger's eye gaze on the scene;
"And this was Tyre," said he; "how has decay
Within her palaces a despot been.
Ruin and silence in her courts have met,
And on the city rock the fisher spreads his net."