Retrospect
The wall-girt distance undulates with heat;
The buildings crouch in terror of the sun;
Steel bars and stones, heat-tortured ton on ton,
On which the noon’s remorseless hammers beat.
Alone I trudge the wide red-cobbled street:
How long before this evil dream is done...?
These strange mad stones I know them every one,
Worn with the tread of oh, how many feet!
And yet it seems that I have seen it all
Before... I know not when... but there should be
Blunt buildings near a cliff, as I recall;
Bare rocks—a burning white—a gnarled dark tree...
And looming clear above a sentried wall
The foam-laced splendor of a warm blue sea...