Gibraltar Rock, at Night

The sun has set over spain and the lights of gibraltar
Drive golden piles deep into the dark of the water
Where wavering they are lost. The vast Rock
Rises behind, an ebon immensity
Mutely aloof; and phantom ships that serve it
Slip in and out silently
Past harbour lights that softly signal
The shadowy coasts of Africa.
This is no granite fortress fiercely impregnable,
Whose huge strength for a hundred years
Has shaken the heart of the world's navies
And given mankind a synonym of might.
It is a soothing apparition of peace,
Afloat between two continents;
A memory of some earthless emanation
That Beauty has made immortal-and then forgot.