Upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1802
EARTH has not anything to show more fair:Dull would he be of soul who could pass byA sight so touching in its majesty:This city now doth like a garment wearThe beauty of the morning: silent, bare,Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lieOpen unto the fields, and to the sky,—All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.Never did sun more beautifully steepIn his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!The river glideth at his own sweet will:Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;And all that mighty heart is lying still!