Within the great wall’s perfect round

Bird, beast and child serenely grew

In endless change on changeless ground

That in a single pattern bound

The old perfection and the new.

There was a tower set in the wall

And a great window in the tower,

And if one looked, beyond recall

The twisting glass kept him in thrall

With changing marvels hour by hour.

And there one day we looked and saw

Marsh, mere and mount in anger shaken,

The world’s great side, the giant flaw,

And watched the stately forests fall,

The white ships sinking in the sea,

The tower run toppling in the field,

The last left stronghold sacked and taken.

And earth and heaven in jeopardy.

Then turning towards you I beheld

The winkle writhe across your brow,

And felt tame’s cap clapped on my head,

And all within the enclosure now,

Light leaf and smiling flower, was false,

The great wall breached, the garden dead.

Across the towering window fled

Disasters, victories, festivals.