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100
IL PENSEROSO.
Are we not exiles here?
Come there not o'er us memories of a clime
More genial and more dear
Than this of time?
Come there not o'er us memories of a clime
More genial and more dear
Than this of time?
When deep, vague wishes press
Upon the soul and prompt it to aspire,
A mystic loneliness,
And wild desire;
Upon the soul and prompt it to aspire,
A mystic loneliness,
And wild desire;
When our long-baffled zeal
Turns back, in mockery, on the weary heart,
Till at the sad appeal,
Dismayed we start;
Turns back, in mockery, on the weary heart,
Till at the sad appeal,
Dismayed we start;
And like the Deluge dove,
Outflown upon the world's cold sea we lie,
And all our dreams of love
In anguish die:
Outflown upon the world's cold sea we lie,
And all our dreams of love
In anguish die:
101
Nature no more endears,
Her blissful strains seem only breathed afar,
Nor mount, nor flower cheers,
Nor smiling star:
Her blissful strains seem only breathed afar,
Nor mount, nor flower cheers,
Nor smiling star:
Familiar things grow strange,
Fond hopes, like tendrils shooting to the air,
Through friendless being range,
To meet despair:
Fond hopes, like tendrils shooting to the air,
Through friendless being range,
To meet despair:
And nursed by secret tears,
Rich but frail visions in the heart have birth,
And this fair world appears
A homeless earth!
Rich but frail visions in the heart have birth,
And this fair world appears
A homeless earth!
Then must we summon back
Blest guides who long ago have met the strife,
And left a radiant track
To mark their life;
Blest guides who long ago have met the strife,
And left a radiant track
To mark their life;
Then must we look around
On heroes' deeds—the landmarks of the brave,
And hear their cheers resound
From off the wave;
On heroes' deeds—the landmarks of the brave,
And hear their cheers resound
From off the wave;
102
Then must we turn from show,
Pleasure and fame, the phantom race of care,
And let our spirits flow
In earnest prayer!
Pleasure and fame, the phantom race of care,
And let our spirits flow
In earnest prayer!
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