 | Italy and Other Poems |  |
Friend of Mankind! thy service done,
Rise thou no more from troubled rest!
Nor, watchful of the setting sun,
Where Pilgrims wander widely quest,
As if their sufferings were thy own,
And thou wert born for man alone.
Rise thou no more from troubled rest!
207
Where Pilgrims wander widely quest,
As if their sufferings were thy own,
And thou wert born for man alone.
Thou, never more, when raves the wind,
Shalt o'er the Alps thy master guide:
No more, when drifting snow flakes blind,
Shalt turn his step from death aside,
Hang on his hand, and woo him back
While instinct yet retains the track.
Shalt o'er the Alps thy master guide:
No more, when drifting snow flakes blind,
Shalt turn his step from death aside,
Hang on his hand, and woo him back
While instinct yet retains the track.
Thou ne'er again shalt gladly bear,
The panier yok'd thy neck around,
Press on the famish'd lip its fare,
And bring the band to close the wound:
Or with thy healing tongue supply
The balm that lessens agony.
The panier yok'd thy neck around,
Press on the famish'd lip its fare,
And bring the band to close the wound:
Or with thy healing tongue supply
The balm that lessens agony.
Thou ne'er again, beneath the snows,
Shalt search the cleft, and treacherous cave,
And conscious of sleep's fell repose
Arouse the slumberer from the grave,
And o'er him breathe thy vital breath,
And by thy warmth reclaim from death.
Shalt search the cleft, and treacherous cave,
And conscious of sleep's fell repose
Arouse the slumberer from the grave,
And o'er him breathe thy vital breath,
And by thy warmth reclaim from death.
208
Ah! thou no more shalt homeward bring,
The infant through the frozen air,
And, as with hand half human, ring
The convent bell, nor quit thy care,
Till on the hearth, before the blaze,
Thou on his opening eyelid gaze.
The infant through the frozen air,
And, as with hand half human, ring
The convent bell, nor quit thy care,
Till on the hearth, before the blaze,
Thou on his opening eyelid gaze.
Long on thy loss that hearth shall dwell,
Friend of mankind! farewell! farewell!
Friend of mankind! farewell! farewell!
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