Vi

One brief perturbed and glorious day! How couldst thou learn The quiet of the forest sun, Where the dark, whispering rivers run The journey that hath no delay And no return?

And yet within thee flamed and sang The dauntless heart, Knowing all passion and the pain On man’s imperious disdain, Since God’s great part in thee gave pang To earth’s frail part.

It held the voices of the hills Deep in its core; The wandering shadows of the sea Called to it,--would not let it be; The harvest of those barren rills Was in its store.

Thine was a love that strives and calls Outcast from home, Burning to free the soul of man With some new life. How strange, a ban Should set thy sleep beneath the walls Of changeless Rome!