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137
TERRACINA.
Traveller! thou whose weary tread
Has pass'd the lingering way,
Where in wide waste around thee spread,
The Pontine marshes lay:
Where the bright dew-drops, that adorn
The glist'ning meads at summer morn,
Distil a baleful show'r,
And Eve's soft shade, and Eve's soft breath
Float on a mist, that guards with death
The wizard's tainted bow'r.
Has pass'd the lingering way,
Where in wide waste around thee spread,
The Pontine marshes lay:
Where the bright dew-drops, that adorn
The glist'ning meads at summer morn,
Distil a baleful show'r,
And Eve's soft shade, and Eve's soft breath
Float on a mist, that guards with death
The wizard's tainted bow'r.
Haste to a rock that lowly bows
His front to meet the main,
Where Morn a breeze from Ocean blows
That Eve's glad wings retain:
A breeze, that in the glare of day
Sleeps on the noon-tide's sultry ray,
But wakes at fall of night,
And on the dewy moonbeam sails,
And wings with joy and health the gales
On Terracina's height.
His front to meet the main,
Where Morn a breeze from Ocean blows
That Eve's glad wings retain:
A breeze, that in the glare of day
Sleeps on the noon-tide's sultry ray,
But wakes at fall of night,
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And wings with joy and health the gales
On Terracina's height.
Come to the rock, that shadowy cove,
Where earth and ocean meet,
And spirits of the sea and grove
Enwreathe their glancing feet:
Now, sportive, round the rocky base
The sunbeam on the billow chase,
And laugh to hear the while,
In the smooth sea that lies below,
A fragment bounding off the brow,
Fall from Theodoric's pile.
Where earth and ocean meet,
And spirits of the sea and grove
Enwreathe their glancing feet:
Now, sportive, round the rocky base
The sunbeam on the billow chase,
And laugh to hear the while,
In the smooth sea that lies below,
A fragment bounding off the brow,
Fall from Theodoric's pile.
There thou shalt spy the bashful train:
Or, if they shun thy view,
The scenery shall thy step detain,
The fair creation new:
The palm-tree on the mountain height,
The aloe soaring to the light,
That bold in beauty tow'rs;
The orange, that on every shoot
At once, its bud, its bloom, its fruit,
On Terracina show'rs.
Or, if they shun thy view,
The scenery shall thy step detain,
The fair creation new:
The palm-tree on the mountain height,
The aloe soaring to the light,
That bold in beauty tow'rs;
The orange, that on every shoot
At once, its bud, its bloom, its fruit,
On Terracina show'rs.
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Wind round the cliff in sweet delay—
Why stays thy faltering pace?
Yon rocks, that seem to bar thy way,
Shall ope, and yield thee space—
Advance—the verdant plains expand
That lead thee to the loveliest land
Beneath th' Ausonian skies:
And Terracina's fairest flow'rs
But strow the path to fairer bow'rs,
Where on her waveless sea th' enchanting Syren lies.
Why stays thy faltering pace?
Yon rocks, that seem to bar thy way,
Shall ope, and yield thee space—
Advance—the verdant plains expand
That lead thee to the loveliest land
Beneath th' Ausonian skies:
And Terracina's fairest flow'rs
But strow the path to fairer bow'rs,
Where on her waveless sea th' enchanting Syren lies.
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