Paestum, your temples and your streets
Have been restored to view;
Your fadeless Grecian beauty greets
The eyes of men anew.
But where are all your roses now—
Those wonderful delights
That made such garlands for the brow
Of your fair Sybarites?
They in your time were more renown'd,
And dearer to your heart,
Than these fine works which mark the bound
And highest reach of art.
We'd see you as you look'd of old;
Though column, arch and wall
Were worth a kingdom to behold,
One rose would shame them all.