Poems (Proctor)/St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG.
See! From the Finland marshes there'T is grand St. Isaac's rears in air, Column on column, that shining dome!And, just beyond its glorious swell,'T is the slender spire of the CitadelWhere great Czar Peter slumbers well All by the Neva's flood and foam,—That lifts its cross till the golden barsGleam and burn with the midnight stars!
Taller than Luxor's shafts, and grander,Looms the Pillar of Alexander Over the Palace that fronts the Square;And out where the mist o'er Okhta flies,The towers of the Nevski Cloister rise,Shrine of the saint who, deathless, lies Sealed in silver and jewels rare;And Smolnoi's wealth of spangled blueBeams all the dusky distance through.