Classic Poem

Vast airy plinth. Thy heaven-piercing shaft
Strong as pillar of Hercules doth loom,
Glittering as patriot sword's jewell'd haft,
Eternal as decrees o' the Book O' Doom.
Strength, grandeur, loftiness, simplicity
Thy salient quadrilateral are,
From which firm bed towers o'er the city,
Thy flower-like beauty, sparkling as a star!
The chameleon doth not change her tints more oft
Than thou thy gray, now white, now pink, now pearl.
With morning dazzling bright, then blushing soft
At sunset, as the neck of love-lorn girl.
Variant as Cleopatra's thy beauty!
Thou needle o' the compass o' Liberty.