Shattered by Fate! The castles rent asunder, The work of giants moldered away! Its roofs are breaking and falling; its towers crumble in ruins. Plundered those walls with grated doors ; Their mortar white with frost. Its battered ramparts are shorn away and ruined, all undermined By eating age. The mighty men that built it, Departed hence, undone by death, are held Fast in the earth's embrace. Tight is the clutch Of the grave, while overhead of living men A hundred generations pass away. The city wall Long this red wall, now mossy gray, withstood, While kingdom followed kingdom in the land, Unshaken neath the storms of heaven — yet now Its towering gate hath fallen. . . . Radiant the mead-halls in that city bright, Yes, many were its baths. High rose its wealth Of horned pinnacles, while loud within Was heard the joyous revelry of men — Till mighty Fate came with her sudden change! Wide-wasting was the battle where they fell. Plague-laden days upon the city came; Death snatched away that mighty host of men. . . . There in the olden time full many a thane, Shining with gold, all gloriously adorned, Haughty in heart, rejoiced when hot with wine; Upon him gleamed his armor, and he gazed On gold and silver and all precious gems; On riches and on wealth and treasured jewels, A radiant city in a kingdom wide. The hot baths There stood the courts of stone. Hot within, The stream flowed with its mighty surge. The wall Surrounded all with its bright bosom; there The baths stood, hot within its heart. . . .