‘ A thing of beauty is a joy for ever ; ’1
So shalt thou be to me, thou wondrous pile,2
Majestic reared o’er thy majestic river,3
Like pyramid that sentinels the Nile.4
Even as a mighty tree that slowly grew5
Through the strength-giving ages, and outspread6
His germinal type in branchy leafage new,7
So grows thy grandeur to harmonious head,8
Not patched in motley splendour, but breathed through,9
Like God’s live work, with one all-moulding soul.10
Farewell ! another glimpse, and then adieu,11
Thou fairest shrine beneath the Arctic pole ;12
Peer proudly o’er thine own, thy German river,13
And insolent Gaul shall claim thy beauty never !14