RETROSPECT

The wall-girt distance undulates with heat;

The buildings crouch in terror of the sun;

Steel bars and stones, heat-tortured ton on ton,

On which the noon's remorseless hammers beat.

Alone I trudge the wide red-cobbled street:

How long before this evil dream is done...?

These strange mad stones I know them every one,

Worn with the tread of oh, how many feet!

And yet it seems that I have seen it all

Before... I know not when... but there should be

Blunt buildings near a cliff, as I recall;

Bare rocks — a burning white — a gnarled dark tree...

And looming clear above a sentried wall

The foam-laced splendor of a warm blue sea...