Assyria, Palestine

Armed with her book divine,

Dread Persia whose fleet chariots charged and won

Pale Continents where prostrate monarchs kneel

Before the flash of her resistless steel.

As one by one they start

With proudly beating heart

Fast in the furious, fierce-contested race,

Where neck to neck they strain

Deliriously to gain

The winning post of power, the meed of praise;

Some drop behind, fall, or are trampled down

While the proud victor grasps the laurel crown.

Not only great campaigns

Shall glorify their reigns,

But high-towered cities wondrous to behold,

With gardens poised in air

Like bowers of Eden fair,

With brazen gates and shrines of beaten gold,

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