These numbered cliffs and gnarls of masonry br Outskeleton Time's central city, Rome; br Whereof each arch, entablature, and dome br Lies bare in all its gaunt anatomy. br br And cracking frieze and rotten metope br Express, as though they were an open tome br Top-lined with caustic monitory gnome; br "Dunces, Learn here to spell Humanity!" br br And yet within these ruins' very shade br The singing workmen shape and set and join br Their frail new mansion's stuccoed cove and quoin br With no apparent sense that years abrade, br Though each rent wall their feeble works invade br Once shamed all such in power of pier and groin.