Westward a league the city lay, with one br Cloud's imminent umbrage o'er it: when behold, br The incendiary sun br Dropped from the womb o' the vapour, rolled br 'Mongst huddled towers and temples, 'twixt them set br Infinite ardour of candescent gold, br Encompassed minaret br And terrace and marmoreal spire br With conflagration: roofs enfurnaced, yet br Unmolten,-columns and cupolas flanked with fire, br Yet standing unconsumed br Of the fierce fervency,-and higher br Than all, their fringes goldenly illumed, br Dishevelled clouds, like massed empurpled smoke br From smouldering forges fumed: br Till suddenly the bright spell broke br With the sun sinking through some palace-floor br And vanishing wholly. Then the city woke, br Her mighty Fire-Dream o'er, br As who from out a sleep is raised br Of terrible loveliness, lasting hardly more br Than one most monumental moment; dazed br He looketh, having come br Forth of one world and witless gazed br Into another: ev'n so looked, for some br Brief while, the city-amazed, immobile, dumb.