O grisly vision! - what a sight! -
A mumbling, chattering ape with shambling step,
With twisted limbs, scarce covered by his rags,
While at his throat there hangs a swaying mass
Of quivering, gangrened flesh; a human form,
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But worse than brule; that bestial, idiot leer
Doth bind him closer down to earth than yonder worm
That crawls upon a festering heap of mould.
I turn, and look upon the glorious scene
Above. - But yet, - the vital fire
Which heaved that noble pile above this earth
Has gone for aye, and cold and lifeless stands
The mighty peak; while that faint spark
That glimmers yet within the Cretin's breast,
Regenerated and reformed, shall live,
When yon vast rock shall lie, inert,
A mass of crumbling ruins on the plain.
S.