And gaze on the now quiet scene,
Calling to mind what once hath been,
When not the curious stranger here
Alone was walking, moved with fear
Of God, who can his power employ
Both to create and to destroy, -
Who can a world from darkness call,
Or hide one ‘neath a darker pall;
But when, through each close, crowded street,
Was hear the sound of hurried feet,
As quicker, nearer, hither game
The cloud of ashes, whilst the flame
of the high, burning, quaking mount, Bursting from out the fury fount,
From whose wide sources, far below,
The flaming surges constantly flow,
Cast all abroad a dreadful blaze.
And now and then the piercing rays
The heart, ashen cloud illumed,
And upward still the mountain fumed.
- William Dix, excerpt from "Pompeii", 1848