 | Flotsam and Jetsam |  |
47
A GLIMPSE OF ITALY.
FROM THE STELVIO.
I
Not yet, not yet, Elysian land,Must we be lured by thy beguiling!
Not yet may bask in skies so bland,
With such deep witchery smiling!
II
Not yet may bless in rapture mute,Their hyacinthine soft illusion!
Nor breathe the Eden flower and fruit
Perfume in wild profusion;
III
Where purpled vines entwining toy,Each luscious laden branch pursuing,
Then o'er them stretch in languid joy
The liquid azure wooing,
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IV
Like wanton snakes with vain caressTheir heads in empty sunshine swaying,
While laughs that coy blue loveliness
And mocks their amorous praying!
V
Where moonlight soothes warm lakes with showersOf labyrinthine lambent kisses;
And nightingales in noontide bowers
Tune such untimely blisses!
VI
Not yet we seek town, field and stream,Rose-lit with Art or classic story;
Not yet in dim delight may dream
O'er ground so thick with glory!
VII
From grand regrets, Circean charmsOf soul or sense, we turn our faces,
And seek thy hardier sister's arms—
An Amazon's embraces!
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VIII
The golden lakes like glittering pagesAround the royal Righi sleeping;
The Faulhorn's band of hoary sages
Their stern cold vigil keeping;
IX
The Gemmi's granite battlementsHung darkly from the depth of heaven;
And maddening down the mountain rents,
White torrents headlong driven!
X
The glacier's sea of huddling cones,Its tossing tumult tranced in wonder;
And 'mid mysterious tempest-tones,
The lauwine's sliding thunder.
XI
O joy! to seek bright cliffs—far-spiedO'er morning mist-glooms—silvery-gleaming
Through sun-lit fleece-bars, each beside
Its shadow, slowly steaming!
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XII
By Lauterbrun; up Meyringen;Between the flanking walls to wander
And airy turrets of the glen
Of fiercely groaning Kander!
XIII
To thread the green white-speckled valesBeneath some rampart so high-towering—
Across the clouds its summit sails!—
Then watch black pines low-cowering;
XIV
Or crowding upward, where they pause,Close-phalanxed storming some great fastness;
Or strew their slain huge trunks like straws
Upon the mountain's vastness!
XV
While Earth and Sky against us fight,A savage scowling combination,
To struggle up each giant height
In weary exultation!
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XVI
To climb the skies on mountain sides,An ocean-waste of peaks commanding;
And drink the gale the eagle rides,
Breast, heart, and soul expanding!—
XVII
This first;—and then aside we flingStern toilsome resolution's armour;
And rush where all thy Syrens sing,
Thou everlasting charmer!
| Flotsam and Jetsam | |