"Of the vacant temple Little now remains, Lowly are the statues, Lowly are the fanes, Filled with worshippers no more. Heavily the creeper Traces its green line Round the fallen altar, Now no more divine— As it was in days of yore, In the days of stately Carthage, The ocean’s earliest queen. …. Empire still has followed The revolving sun; Earth’s great onward progress In the East begun— Ruins, deserts, now are there. Downfall waits on triumph: Is such fate in store For our glorious islands? Will our English shore Lie as desolate and bare As the shores of fallen Carthage, The ocean’s former queen?"