The White Lights

 When in from Delos came the gold 
That held the dream of Pericles, 
When first Athenian ears were told 
The tumult of Euripides, 
When men met Aristophanes,
Who fledged them with immortal quills— 
Here, where the time knew none of these, 
There were some islands and some hills.
 

When Rome went ravening to see 
The sons of mothers end their days,
When Flaccus bade Leuconoë 
To banish her chaldean ways, 
When first the pearled, alembic phrase 
Of Maro into music ran— 
Here there was neither blame nor praise
For Rome, or for the Mantuan.
 

When Avon, like a faery floor, 
Lay freighted, for the eyes of One, 
With galleons laden long before 
By moonlit wharves in Avalon—
Here, where the white lights have begun 
To seethe a way for something fair, 
No prophet knew, from what was done, 
That there was triumph in the air.

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