Set where the upper streams of Simois flow <br />Was the Palladium, high 'mid rock and wood; <br />And Hector was in Ilium, far below, <br />And fought, and saw it not--but there it stood! <br /> <br />It stood, and sun and moonshine rain'd their light <br />On the pure columns of its glen-built hall. <br />Backward and forward roll'd the waves of fight <br />Round Troy--but while this stood, Troy could not fall. <br /> <br />So, in its lovely moonlight, lives the soul. <br />Mountains surround it, and sweet virgin air; <br />Cold plashing, past it, crystal waters roll; <br />We visit it by moments, ah, too rare! <br /> <br />We shall renew the battle in the plain <br />To-morrow;--red with blood will Xanthus be; <br />Hector and Ajax will be there again, <br />Helen will come upon the wall to see. <br /> <br />Then we shall rust in shade, or shine in strife, <br />And fluctuate 'twixt blind hopes and blind despairs, <br />And fancy that we put forth all our life, <br />And never know how with the soul it fares. <br /> <br />Still doth the soul, from its lone fastness high, <br />Upon our life a ruling effluence send. <br />And when it fails, fight as we will, we die; <br />And while it lasts, we cannot wholly end.<br /><br />Matthew Arnold<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/palladium/
