 | Poems at Home and Abroad |  |
21
Ponte Gula
Who, from Varallo, seek Fobello's height
May hear the Mastallone all the way
Making rich music, happy in its might,
And, like a giant, happy in its play.
May hear the Mastallone all the way
Making rich music, happy in its might,
And, like a giant, happy in its play.
But, when it nears to Gula's fearsome cleft
The torrent seems to lose its playful mood,
And solemn moves, of all its joy bereft,
As if it felt some deep inquietude.
The torrent seems to lose its playful mood,
And solemn moves, of all its joy bereft,
As if it felt some deep inquietude.
Black are the crags, and even the autumn's gold
No sense of gladness to its way can lend,
While lamentation as for sorrows old
Fills the tall murmuring cliffs from end to end.
No sense of gladness to its way can lend,
While lamentation as for sorrows old
Fills the tall murmuring cliffs from end to end.
But, where beneath that ancient bridge it goes
To change from green to silver and to sun,
Its moody waters quite forget their woes
And on with laughter towards Varallo run.
To change from green to silver and to sun,
Its moody waters quite forget their woes
And on with laughter towards Varallo run.
22
How many a life in this strange world of ours
Has its dark gorge of loneliness and grief
So deep we cannot reach with human powers
And sympathetic touch to bring relief!
Has its dark gorge of loneliness and grief
So deep we cannot reach with human powers
And sympathetic touch to bring relief!
But Nature still abides, her hand can bring
Help to the heart in darkness doomed to move,
And sudden, makes a sun-lit opening
To give us back new happiness and love.
Help to the heart in darkness doomed to move,
And sudden, makes a sun-lit opening
To give us back new happiness and love.
| Poems at Home and Abroad | |