12. 
Sudden, from out that city sprung
A light that made the earth grow red;
Two flames that each with quivering tongue
Licked its high domes, and overhead
Among those mighty towers and fanes 75
Dropped fire, as a volcano rains
Its sulphurous ruin on the plains.

13. 
And hark! a rush as if the deep
Had burst its bonds; she looked behind
And saw over the western steep 80
A raging flood descend, and wind
Through that wide vale; she felt no fear,
But said within herself, ’Tis clear
These towers are Nature’s own, and she
To save them has sent forth the sea. 85

14. 
And now those raging billows came
Where that fair Lady sate, and she
Was borne towards the showering flame
By the wild waves heaped tumultuously. 
And, on a little plank, the flow 90
Of the whirlpool bore her to and fro.

15. 
The flames were fiercely vomited
From every tower and every dome,
And dreary light did widely shed
O’er that vast flood’s suspended foam, 95
Beneath the smoke which hung its night
On the stained cope of heaven’s light.

16. 
The plank whereon that Lady sate
Was driven through the chasms, about and about,
Between the peaks so desolate 100
Of the drowning mountains, in and out,
As the thistle-beard on a whirlwind sails—­
While the flood was filling those hollow vales.

17. 
At last her plank an eddy crossed,
And bore her to the city’s wall, 105
Which now the flood had reached almost;
It might the stoutest heart appal
To hear the fire roar and hiss
Through the domes of those mighty palaces.

18. 
The eddy whirled her round and round 110
Before a gorgeous gate, which stood
Piercing the clouds of smoke which bound
Its aery arch with light like blood;
She looked on that gate of marble clear,
With wonder that extinguished fear. 115

19. 
For it was filled with sculptures rarest,
Of forms most beautiful and strange,
Like nothing human, but the fairest
Of winged shapes, whose legions range
Throughout the sleep of those that are, 120
Like this same Lady, good and fair.

20. 
And as she looked, still lovelier grew
Those marble forms;—­the sculptor sure
Was a strong spirit, and the hue
Of his own mind did there endure 125
After the touch, whose power had braided
Such grace, was in some sad change faded.

21. 
She looked, the flames were dim, the flood
Grew tranquil as a woodland river
Winding through hills in solitude; 130
Those marble shapes then seemed to quiver,
And their fair limbs to float in motion,
Like weeds unfolding in the ocean.