Xxii

--Lament, Lerici, mourn for the world’s loss! Mourn that pure light of song extinct at noon! Ye waves of Spezzia that shine and toss Repent that sacred flame you quenched too soon! Mourn, Mediterranean waters, mourn In affluent purple down your golden shore! Such strains as his, whose voice you stilled in scorn, Our ears may greet no more, Unless at last to that far sphere we climb Where he completes the wonder of his rhyme!