Chapter 32

ESTRELLA and BASILIUS.

ESTRELLA. If, mighty lord, thy presence, which it braves, The tumult of the crowd cannot defeat -- The frenzy of the multitude that raves In hostile bands through every square and street,-- Thou'lt see thy kingdom swim in crimson waves, A purple sea of blood shall round it beat; For even already in its dismal doom All is disaster, tragedy, and gloom. Such is thy kingdom's ruin, so severe The hard and bloody trial fate hath sent, Dazed is the eye, and terrified the ear; Dark grows the sun, and every wind is spent; Each stone a mournful obelisk doth rear, And every flower erects a monument; A grave seems every house, whence life is gone,-- Each soldier is a living skeleton.

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