In candent ire the solar splendor flames; The foles, langueseent, pend from arid rames; His humid front the Give, anheling, wipes, And dreams of erring on ventiferous riper. ...
Brothers, whom we may not reach Through the veil of alien speech, Welcome! welcome! eyes can tell What the lips in vain would spell, - Words that hearts can understand, Brothers from the Flowery Land!...
One word to the guest we have gathered to greet! The echoes are longing that word to repeat, - It springs to the lips that are waiting to part, For its syllables spell themselves first in the heart. ...
We welcome you, Lords of the Land of the Sun! The voice of the many sounds feebly through one; Ah! would 't were a voice of more musical tone, But the dog-star is here, and the song-birds have flown. ...
Once more Orion and the sister Seven Look on thee from the skies that hailed thy birth, - How shall we welcome thee, whose home was heaven, From thy celestial wanderings back to earth? ...
Come, dear old comrade, you and I Will steal an hour from days gone by, The shining days when life was new, And all was bright with morning dew, The lusty days of long ago,...
Proud of her clustering spires, her new-built towers, Our Venice, stolen from the slumbering sea, A sister's kindliest greeting wafts to thee, Rose of Val d' Arno, queen of all its flowers!...
She has gone, - she has left us in passion and pride, - Our stormy-browed sister, so long at our side! She has torn her own star from our firmament's glow, And turned on her brother the face of a foe! ...
Day hath put on his jacket, and around His burning bosom buttoned it with stars. Here will I lay me on the velvet grass, That is like padding to earth's meagre ribs,...