 | Poems |  |
255
TO THE CITY OF FLORENCE.
Florence—in my waking dream,
Arch'd with rays through tears of gladness,
Spanning Arno's famous stream—
Florence, thou hast lost the gleam,
The bow of Promise fades in sadness.
Arch'd with rays through tears of gladness,
Spanning Arno's famous stream—
Florence, thou hast lost the gleam,
The bow of Promise fades in sadness.
For me no more shall Fancy's fingers
Trace on Arno's silver sands
Names of heaven-inspired singers;
Painters old whose spirit lingers
On the wonders of their hands;
Trace on Arno's silver sands
Names of heaven-inspired singers;
Painters old whose spirit lingers
On the wonders of their hands;
Lords of art who gave to marble
Form and voice and love divine,
Faith that sceptics cannot garble,—
Seraphs, iris-wing'd, that warble
Round the Medicean Shrine.
Form and voice and love divine,
Faith that sceptics cannot garble,—
Seraphs, iris-wing'd, that warble
Round the Medicean Shrine.
256
Nought but clouds on fancy thicken
From thy once alluring vale,
Where our northern blossoms sicken,
Where the hope of love lay stricken,
And the mother's heart grew pale.
From thy once alluring vale,
Where our northern blossoms sicken,
Where the hope of love lay stricken,
And the mother's heart grew pale.
Where my friend, an English stranger,
Had his dearest heart-strings wrench'd—
Italy! thou smiling danger,
Could thy breath so darkly change her?
Can that loveliest light be quench'd?
Had his dearest heart-strings wrench'd—
Italy! thou smiling danger,
Could thy breath so darkly change her?
Can that loveliest light be quench'd?
When will Time this memory harden?
Florence, what to me art thou?
What but a forbidden garden,
By a dread angelic warden,—
Asrael of the placid brow,—
Guarded with a flaming sword,
On whose sky-wrought blade is scored
One bright name, too bright for me,
And that name is “Emily.”
Florence, what to me art thou?
What but a forbidden garden,
By a dread angelic warden,—
Asrael of the placid brow,—
Guarded with a flaming sword,
On whose sky-wrought blade is scored
One bright name, too bright for me,
And that name is “Emily.”
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