On a Picture of Tyre
Painted by Mr. T. Creswick
by Louisa Anne Twamley
And such thou wert, proud city of the East!
When, 'midst the mightiest of the earth, thy name
Was blazoned in the dazzling scroll of Fame;
And men gazed on thee, as thy pomp increased,
Deeming thy grandeur must be aye the same:
I see thee now, as they beheld thee, in thy "pride
Of place," with thy high, frowning, and majestic fanes
Of idol-worship; with thy fertile, sunlit plains,
And glorious Ocean,—like an Eastern bride,
Gemmed with the wealth that proudly she sustains—
But where are now thine empire, wealth, and power?
Thy vaunted grandeur and eternised fame?—
Oblivion claims them—like the transient flower
That dies, and whispers—beauty's but a name.
Louisa Anne Twamley later became Louisa Anne Meredith. While born in England, she lived most of her life in Australia and Tasmania, and published a number of remarkable books, illustrated by herself with state of the art means, on Tasmanian wildlife.
