Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
Zimbabwe
1INTO the darkness whence they came,
2 They passed -- their country knoweth none,
3They and their gods without a name
4 Partake the same oblivion.
5Their work they did, their work is done,
6 Whose gold, it may be, shone like fire
7About the brows of Solomon,
8 And in the House of God's Desire.
9Hence came the altar all of gold,
10 The hinges of the Holy Place,
11The censer with the fragrance rolled
12 Skyward to seek Jehovah's face;
13The golden ark that did encase
14 The Law within Jerusalem,
15The lilies and the rings to grace
16 The high priest's robe and diadem.
17The pestilence, the desert spear,
18 Smote them; they passed with none to tell
19The names of them that laboured here:
20 Stark walls and crumbling crucible,
21Strait gates, and graves, and ruined well,
22 Abide, dumb monuments of old,
23We know but that men fought and fell,
24 Like us -- like us -- for love of gold.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: The Poetical Works of Andrew Lang, ed. Mrs. Lang, 4 vols. (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1923): III, 42-43. British Library 011645.ee.47
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 2001
Recent editing: 2:2002/2/20
Rhyme: ababcdcd
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