Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

The children of another germ of life,
It has a voice of loud authority;

By the same laws it bids you train your minds,
To the same tutelage submit your hearts,
And to the sum of wisdom there laid up,
Adding the priceless gems of Christian truth,
Be owners of a treasury of such wealth,
As all the spirit of nations has not known.

ITALY.

Sempre vivete, o cari arti divine,
Conforto a nostra sventurata gente,
Fra l'itale ruine

GI' itali pregi a celebrare intente.

G. LEOPARDI.

AN ITALIAN TO ITALY.

ALONG the coast of those bright seas,
Where sternly fought of old

The Pisan and the Genoese,
Into the evening gold

A ship was sailing fast,

Beside whose swaying mast

There leant a youth ;-his eye's extended scope Took in the scene, ere all the twilight fell;

And, more in blessing than in hope,

He murmured,-"Fare-thee-well.

"Not that thou gav'st my fathers birth,
And not that thou hast been
The terror of the ancient earth
And Christendom's sole Queen;

But that thou wert and art

The beauty of my heart :

Now with a lover's love I pray to thee,

As in my passionate youth-time erst I prayed;

Now, with a lover's agony,

I see thy features fade.

« ForrigeFortsett »