 | Poems, original and translated |  |
122
EVENING CHIMES OF ROME.
HEARD FROM THE PINCIAN.
The evening sun is sinking low
Behind Mount Mario's graceful line,
And darkly cuts the western glow
That solitary pine.
Behind Mount Mario's graceful line,
And darkly cuts the western glow
That solitary pine.
See where, against the fading gold,
Stands black and stark St. Peter's dome;
While in the valley, mist-enrolled,
Twinkle the lights of Rome,—
Stands black and stark St. Peter's dome;
While in the valley, mist-enrolled,
Twinkle the lights of Rome,—
Twinkle as when, on summer nights,
Here, on the Campus Martius wide,
The fireflies flashed their fitful lights
Along the Tiber's tide;
Here, on the Campus Martius wide,
The fireflies flashed their fitful lights
Along the Tiber's tide;
While on the slopes and steeps around
The moon on marble mansions beamed,
Or many a height, with temples crowned,
In silvery starlight gleamed.
The moon on marble mansions beamed,
Or many a height, with temples crowned,
In silvery starlight gleamed.
And here and there, along the hill,
I see some lonely cypress stand,
Sombre and spectral, like a still
Sentinel of the land,—
I see some lonely cypress stand,
Sombre and spectral, like a still
Sentinel of the land,—
123
The holy land, where—the profane,
Discordant present laid to sleep—
The spirit of the past again
Its vigils soon shall keep.
Discordant present laid to sleep—
The spirit of the past again
Its vigils soon shall keep.
But, hark! what requiem-bells are they,
That knell o'er ages gone to rest,
As vesper-tollings chant how day
Dies in the paling west.
That knell o'er ages gone to rest,
As vesper-tollings chant how day
Dies in the paling west.
To the calm land of spirits blest
They call my restless heart to soar,
Where break thy waves, O human breast!
And die upon the shore.
They call my restless heart to soar,
Where break thy waves, O human breast!
And die upon the shore.
1866.
| Poems, original and translated | |