University of Virginia Library


90

THE SYBIL'S GROT.

We rested close beside the Sybil's Grot,
Spring laughed out fair around! the blue bright sky,
The glorious sky of fervent Italy,
Bent in unbounded beauty o'er the spot,
Shone cloudlessly, without one vapoury blot!
Old Times came back on us—but to the eye
They shared the freshness of the bough on high,
The brightness of the bright Air!—frowning not,
As in their ancientry so oft they do;
Steeped, steeped in all the beauty that shone round,—
Beauty of Spring, and vernal bloom! to eschew
All melancholy fancies felt we bound
Beneath that gladdening sky of sultriest blue,
And gracious trees which clothed that turfy mound.