Oh, haughty Thebes! In shadowy days of yore

Oh, haughty Thebes ! In shadowy days of yore,
Where history faintly blends with mythologic lore,
I was thy hidden terror, yet, revealed,
I traced a stain of woe upon thy glittering shield.

Fair Palestine ! I was put forth in thee
Amid a scene of gay festivity ;
Yet brought by me a sullen frown, I ween,
Was on the brow of my originator seen.

'T is mine to give thee strange and needless toil,
For Gordian knots I weave in many a tangled coil
I shun publicity, for I declare,
That if you speak my name, I vanish into air.