Williams, Hugh W.: Select views in Greece (Band 1) (London, 1829)

There have been treasures of the seas and isles
Brought to the day-god's now forsaken throne;
Thunders have peal'd along the rock-defiles,
"When the far-echoing battle-horn made known
That foes were on their way ! the deep-wind's moan
Hath chill'd the invader's heart with secret fear,
And from the Sibyl-grottoes, wild and lone,
Storms have gone forth, which, in their fierce career,
Prom his bold hand have struck the banner and the spear !

The shrine hath sunk ! but thou unchang'd art there !
Mount of the voice and vision, rob'd with dreams !
Unchang'd, and rushing through the radiant air,
With thy dark waving pines, and flashing streams,
And all thy founts of song! their bright course teems
With inspiration yet; and each dim haze,
Or golden cloud which floats around thee, seems
As with its mantle veiling from our gaze
The mysteries of the past, the gods of elder days !

Away, vain phantasies !—doth less of power
Dwell round thy summit, or thy cliffs invest,
Though in deep stillness now, the ruin's flower
Wave o'er the pillars mouldering on thy breast ?
Lift through the free blue heavens thine arrowy crest ?
Let the great rocks their solitude regain !
No Delphian lyres now break thy noontide rest
With their full chords !—But silent be the strain !
Thou hast a mightier voice to speak th' Eternal's reign !

The above beautiful verses, I have much pride in saying, were written
by that accomplished poet Mes. Hemans, expressly in relation to the
picture from which this engraving is made. The lines are published in
the appendix to Mes. Hemans's splendid dramatic poem, the Siege of
Valencia.—H. W. W.