Slow sinks, more lovely ere his race be run, [1] Along Morea's hills the setting Sun; Not, as in northern climes, obscurely bright, But one unclouded blaze of living light; O'er the hushed deep the yellow beam he throws, [i] Gilds the green wave that trembles as it glows; On old Ægina's rock and Hydra's isle [2] The God of gladness sheds his parting smile; O'er his own regions lingering loves to shine, Though there his altars are no more divine. [ii] 10 Descending fast, the mountain-shadows kiss Thy glorious Gulf, unconquered Salamis! Their azure arches through the long expanse, [iii] More deeply purpled, meet his mellowing glance, And tenderest tints, along their summits driven, Mark his gay course, and own the hues of Heaven; Till, darkly shaded from the land and deep, Behind his Delphian rock he sinks to sleep. [iv] On such an eve his palest beam he cast When, Athens! here thy Wisest looked his last. 20 How watched thy better sons his farewell ray, That closed their murdered Sage's [3] latest day! Not yet--not yet--Sol pauses on the hill, The precious hour of parting lingers still; But sad his light to agonizing eyes, And dark the mountain's once delightful dyes; Gloom o'er the lovely land he seemed to pour, The land where Phoebus never frowned before; But ere he sunk below Cithaeron's head, The cup of Woe was quaffed--the Spirit fled; 30 The soul of Him that scorned to fear or fly, [v] Who lived and died as none can live or die. But lo! from high Hymettus to the plain The Queen of Night asserts her silent reign; [vi] [4] No murky vapour, herald of the storm, [vii] Hides her fair face, or girds her glowing form; With cornice glimmering as the moonbeams play, There the white column greets her grateful ray, And bright around, with quivering beams beset, Her emblem sparkles o'er the Minaret; 40 The groves of olive scattered dark and wide, Where meek Cephisus sheds his scanty tide, The cypress saddening by the sacred mosque, The gleaming turret of the gay kiosk, [5] And sad and sombre 'mid the holy calm, Near Theseus' fane, yon solitary palm; All, tinged with varied hues, arrest the eye; And dull were his that passed them heedless by. [6] Again the Ægean, heard no more afar, Lulls his chafed breast from elemental war: 50 Again his waves in milder tints unfold Their long expanse of sapphire and of gold, Mixed with the shades of many a distant isle That frown, where gentler Ocean deigns to smile. [viii]