5. Yes-from yon heaven is left thee still !— Look on those violet hues that are The poetry of light!—which fill Thy every vein--till not a scar Of wounds within thy bosom riven, But might be, for their sakes, forgiven! 6. Oh! that I, ere I pass away, One moment could arrest from Time, Like him who sleeps within that bay; And body forth this scene sublime, This world of love and harmony, In strains as gloriously as he!— 7. Naples-far stretching out beside Yon azure ridge, her mighty life : Yon Mount, whose clouds ascending, hide The deep blue air with gladness rife: That, stern and awful watch seems keeping O'er Love beneath on roses sleeping! Oh, that I from me now could throw The beauty labouring at my heart, That blends itself with all below, Of earth-air-heaven-mankind a part; I would be the inspiring Soul, The life, the love that fills the Whole! 9. I have essayed-and, it may be, My Song with Memory shall dwell: I murmur not to join with ye, Ye glorious Dead! but I would tell That I, too, life have well employed: I, too, Arcadia have enjoyed! 10. I would not, like this blessed Air, That floats along my cheek, be dumb: But leave some record to declare I lived and loved :-I would become The immortal SPIRIT of this spot, Remembered with it-and forgot! 11. Even now its Beauty's spell hath bound me! The fresh breeze fans, the wave breaks high, Tossing its spray of gladness round me! The Spirit of Joy is in the sky, Pervading sea, and earth, and air, As if even Freedom's self were there! 12. And she is there-I feel her now: It is her Spirit that hath thrilled My bosom, till it dared avow The thoughts that would no more be stilled; That, o'er the flight of ages cast, Foretell the future by the past. 13. Fallen Italia! wilt thou lie For ever thus, profaned, degraded ? Still must thy beauty be the tie That binds thee in thy chains unaided? Still shall the strong-the weak, alike, Insult thee-till thou dar'st to strike? 14. I look into thy peasant's eyes, And read the hero in each trace; I mark the fiery passions rise Which Tyranny can not efface: I feel beneath that passive air, That soul-that soul is living there! 15. The fires within thy ashes hidden, Are gathering slow, though veiled their light, Till forth shall burst that word forbidden Like thy volcano-flames-UNITE! Then, chains of ages from thee thrown, Italia-thou shalt stand alone! 16. Look how thy Alps ascend the skies! Is't not enough?-look back to time; 17. Heroes of Rome's heroic age! High martyrs of your country's fame! Do not your chainless spirits wage War with her foes? does not your flame Pervade the haunts ye loved, and thrill The hearts responsive to ye still? 18. I hear-I hear your answers borne Rome seated in her ancient state; |