Page:Hellas, a Lyrical Drama - Shelley (1822).djvu/56

Before? what splendour rolls behind?
Ruin and renovation cry
Who but We?

Semichorus 1st.
I hear! I hear!
The hiss as of a rushing wind,
The roar as of an ocean foaming,
The thunder as of earthquake coming.
I hear! I hear!
The crash as of an empire falling,
The shrieks as of a people calling
Mercy! mercy!—How they thrill!
Then a shout of "kill! kill! kill!"
And then a small still voice, thus—

Semichorus 2d.
For
Revenge and wrong bring forth their kind,
The foul cubs like their parents are,
Their den is in the guilty mind,
And Conscience feeds them with despair.

Semichorus 1st.
In sacred Athens, near the fane
Of Wisdom, Pity's altar stood:
Serve not the unknown God in vain,
But pay that broken shrine again,
Love for hate and tears for blood.