Stones from The Quarry or, Moods of Mind. By Henry Browne [i.e. Henry Ellison] |
 |
|
ON THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY. |
|
 | Stones from The Quarry |  |
152
ON THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY.
Too long, too long, O beauteous Italy,Forgetting thy right hand and act of arms,
Hadst thou, enamoured of thyself, thy charms
And thousand graces, posturing lovingly
Before thy great sea-mirror, fed thine eye
With thy own beauty; scared by rude alarms,
That beauty cause, not shield, of hurts and harms,
Thy virtue sick with self-idolatry,
Narcissus-like! But, no more posing now
Before a flattering looking-glass, arise,
O Beautiful! Thy noble forehead bow,
And, with the brine of thy great sea, baptize
Thyself anew to Freedom; 'tis, I trow,
True “Holy Water,” though no Pope applies!
| Stones from The Quarry | |