 | Italy and Other Poems |  |
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THE PONTINE MARSHES.
Fiend of the Marsh! who from beneath yon woodsThat sweep along the sea-beach, wing'st thy way
In viewless vapour at the noon of day,
Spreading th' infection of the unsunn'd floods,
Far off thou hover'd'st that auspicious hour
Which led me o'er th' undeviating road,
When, bright with spring, all nature freshly glow'd,
And from the sun-beam stole its genial pow'r.
On, as I sought Campania's blest domain,
Behind me, bold Albano's wooded brow,
Dark-rising from the lake that slept below,
Tow'r'd like the guardian of the Latian plain.
Eastward, a cultur'd region slowly rose
In smooth ascent, till boldly on the steep
Proud Cora, where the Volscian mountains sweep,
Bad on her Doric fanes the eye repose.
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Bright Anxur, on her rocky crest aloft
Shone like the new-fall'n snow, and sweetly soft,
The south wind told how fair her orange flow'r'd.
But where the sun went down in waves of gold,
Stretch'd far and wide a grassy champain lay:
Itself of old beneath the sea-god's sway
Had felt the heave of billows o'er it roll'd.
The milk-white kine, and jet-black buffalo
There, pasturing, gambol'd, and wild colts whose mane
Swept the luxuriance of the unshorn plain,
In challenge of the winds rac'd to and fro.
A stream on either side, and o'er the mound
In double rows the elm and poplar hung,
Where pleasant birds their amorous carol sung,
And all the air rang with delightful sound:
Here, Ufens glided peaceably, and there
Swift Amasenus rushing, deep and clear,
Bore record of the Exile's trusted spear,
That wing'd his Infant thro' the void of air,
While his bold arm dash'd back the torrent's swell.
Nor be that mount forgot, where echoes float
Of Homer's minstrelsy, whose dulcet note
Rests on Circello like th' enchantress' spell.
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May trace each feature of the sacred earth,
Where Virgil gave his Rome immortal birth,
And bound her Being in his magic rhyme.
Lavinium, Tyber, Ostia burst on sight,
Filling the plain afar with wonder and delight.
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