 | Hours at Naples, and Other Poems |  |
245
THE LOVELY LAND.
'Twas a Land where Divinities (such as of yore
The nations combined to exalt and adore)
Might well walk in Beauty, enraptured and glad,
In the smiles of their fair immortality clad!
The nations combined to exalt and adore)
Might well walk in Beauty, enraptured and glad,
In the smiles of their fair immortality clad!
All blue were its Heav'ns—all clear was its Air—
And ten thousand enchantments and witcheries were there;
But something seemed wanting to perfect the whole,
It was like a fair Form—fair—but lacking a Soul.
And ten thousand enchantments and witcheries were there;
But something seemed wanting to perfect the whole,
It was like a fair Form—fair—but lacking a Soul.
There is one thing—all Sungifts and blue Heav'ns above,
That floats round the Land like a Spirit of Love,
That makes Earth one wide mantle of Sunniness wear,
But that one thing, alas! it might not be found there!
That floats round the Land like a Spirit of Love,
That makes Earth one wide mantle of Sunniness wear,
But that one thing, alas! it might not be found there!
246
'Tis the Spirit of Liberty, glorious and bright,
A Spirit of Love, and a Spirit of Light;
Ah! with that such sweet Land were too beauteous and fair,
And the Paradise lost—were restored to us there!
A Spirit of Love, and a Spirit of Light;
Ah! with that such sweet Land were too beauteous and fair,
And the Paradise lost—were restored to us there!
| Hours at Naples, and Other Poems | |