The Towers of Tantalus

The Towers of Tantalus I saw
Above untrodden streets of Time;
The sunlight and the moonlight shone
Together on great spars of rime.

Terrestrial lilies were those towers
In calm sky pools of that dark noon;
Calm lay on rocks of frozen light
The shadow of the Sun and Moon.

Still, bright gold chrysanthemums
Shone in the polished, dim, jade walls,
And at small windows in still woods
Hung snow-curved, shining waterfalls.

Those pinnacles, sky-pointed, sang
A cloud-embroidered song of doom:
The flowers sang in the halls below—
Wax sprays of light in ebon gloom.

The waters frozen in the woods
Were mirrored on the shadowed floors;
Cold constellations from the sky
Hung low, dream-captured at the doors.

'Twas music hewn upon the air
Flashed for a moment through these eyes—
I heard the trumpets crumple, and
I stared once more at transient skies.