Hard by the lilied Nile I saw

A duskish river-dragon stretched along,

The brown habergeon of his limbs enamelled

With sanguine almandines and rainy pearl:

And on his back there lay a young one sleeping,

No bigger than a mouse; with eyes like beads,

And a small fragment of its speckled egg

Remaining on its harmless, pulpy snout;

A thing to laugh at, as it gaped to catch

The baulking merry flies. In the iron jaws

Of the great devil-beast, like a pale soul

Fluttering in rocky hell, lightsomely flew

A snowy trochilus, with roseate beak

Tearing the hairy leeches from his throat.