Give back the Elgin marbles; let them lie
Unsullied, pure beneath an Attic sky.
The smoky fingers of our northern clime
More ruin work than all the ancient time.
How oft the roar of the Piraen sea
Through column'd hall and dusky temple stealing
Hath struck these marble ears, that now must flee
The whirling hum of London, noonward reeling.
Ah! let them hear again the sounds that float
Around Athene's shrine on morning's breeze,—
The lowing ox, the bell of climbing goat
And drowsy drone of far Hymettus' bees.
Give back the marbles; let them vigil keep
Where art still lies, o'er Pheidias' tomb, asleep.
Lukunga Valley,
Cataract Region of the Lower Congo.