 | Claribel and Other Poems |  |
254
JUNE—1849
For Rome! for Italy!—Our thoughts, our words
Rush forth impetuously. Would they might be
Swift-wing'd as angels, with eternal swords
To smite ‘God's Unforgiven.’ O to see
Our new Camillus scourge those slaves of Gaul
Home to their infamy! Ye ruins grand
Of the time-reverenced Coliseum! fall,
And with Saint Peter's and the Vatican
Be one wide undistinguishable heap
Ere over Rome the Accurséd dare to creep.
Freemen of Rome! your ancient heroes man
The eternal ramparts. Lo, thy martyr band,
Ruffini! leads us.—Build yon batter'd wall
With living men!—O Roman Victory!
Rush forth impetuously. Would they might be
Swift-wing'd as angels, with eternal swords
To smite ‘God's Unforgiven.’ O to see
Our new Camillus scourge those slaves of Gaul
Home to their infamy! Ye ruins grand
Of the time-reverenced Coliseum! fall,
And with Saint Peter's and the Vatican
Be one wide undistinguishable heap
Ere over Rome the Accurséd dare to creep.
Freemen of Rome! your ancient heroes man
The eternal ramparts. Lo, thy martyr band,
Ruffini! leads us.—Build yon batter'd wall
With living men!—O Roman Victory!
(December—1864)
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