Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/145
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The City in the Plains.
109
LXVII.
The City in the Plains.
In a silvern afternoon
We saw the city sleeping,
Sleeping and rustling a little
Under the brindled hills.
Spectres of Alps behind,
Alps behind and beyond,
Tall, naked, and blue.
The city sleeps in the plain—
A flight of glittering scales
Flung in a wanton curve,
Sinking softly to earth
Flung from a Titan’s palm.
In the silver afternoon
All round the shining city,
A thousand thousand sheaves
Loll in the golden plain;
On goes the stately wain,
The dun hind striding by it,
Beside the elms and willows,
Between the Alps and the sea.
We saw the city sleeping,
Sleeping and rustling a little
Under the brindled hills.
Spectres of Alps behind,
Alps behind and beyond,
Tall, naked, and blue.
The city sleeps in the plain—
A flight of glittering scales
Flung in a wanton curve,
Sinking softly to earth
Flung from a Titan’s palm.
In the silver afternoon
All round the shining city,
A thousand thousand sheaves
Loll in the golden plain;
On goes the stately wain,
The dun hind striding by it,
Beside the elms and willows,
Between the Alps and the sea.