“Oh Aira, city of marble and beryl, how many are thy
beauties! How I loved the warm and fragrant groves across
the hyline Nithra, and the falls of the tiny Kra that
flowed though the verdant valley! In those groves and in
the vale the children wove wreathes for one another, and
at dusk I dreamed strange dreams under the yath-trees on
the mountain as I saw below me the lights of the city, and
the curving Nithra reflecting a ribbon of stars.
“And in the city were the palaces of veined and tinted
marble, with golden domes and painted walls, and green
gardens with cerulean pools and crystal fountains. Often I
played in the gardens and waded in the pools, and lay and
dreamed among the pale flowers under the trees. And
sometimes at sunset i would climb the long hilly street to
the citadel and the open place, and look down upon Aira,
the magic city of marble and beryl, splendid in a robe of
golden flame.