21.05.2007, 15:18
On the Rapid Extension of the Suburbs
How far, ye nymphs and dryads! must we stray
Beyond your once-loved haunts, ere we again
May meet you in your freshness? My young day
Has oft-time seen me in your sylvan train
Culling the wild-wood flowers, where now remain
Nor brake nor hedgerow, nor clear bubbling stream
To feed their fragrance, or the fervid ray
To mitigate; but to the flaunting beam
The domes of tasteless opulence display,
Shadeless, their glaring fronts; while the pure rill
That wont to parley, or by noon or night
With Phoebus' or with Dian's softer light,
Now through some drain obscene creeps dark and still,
To sweep the waste of luxury away.
How far, ye nymphs and dryads! must we stray
Beyond your once-loved haunts, ere we again
May meet you in your freshness? My young day
Has oft-time seen me in your sylvan train
Culling the wild-wood flowers, where now remain
Nor brake nor hedgerow, nor clear bubbling stream
To feed their fragrance, or the fervid ray
To mitigate; but to the flaunting beam
The domes of tasteless opulence display,
Shadeless, their glaring fronts; while the pure rill
That wont to parley, or by noon or night
With Phoebus' or with Dian's softer light,
Now through some drain obscene creeps dark and still,
To sweep the waste of luxury away.