Rothenburg

A dream of gables and of olden days;

Of dragon-crested fountains, knights on tombs;

Of leaded panes, huge beakers, dungeon glooms;

Of banners, Gothic signboards, low-arched ways;

Of guilds, of 'prentices, of city frays;

Of patient armourers in raftered rooms;

Of weavers bending over household looms;

Of particoloured knaves; of mystery plays.

Ay, ay, a dream: and in the city square

A spectre soldiery, and phantom men,

Women, and children, kneeling as in prayer.

Before a phantom Tilly, sitting there

On ghostly steed.... And see, as even then

Dark doom is in his eyes; in theirs despair.