Part 27 (2/2)
O'er waves that duplicate the sky I watch you daily come and go, But rarely is there one I know Of all who at your railings stand, To view with joy this storied land.
On ye pa.s.s! On ye pa.s.s!
At times I follow through my gla.s.s Your silent course from sunset light To meet the dusky veil of night, As swiftly round the curving sh.o.r.e Glide faces I shall see no more.
Sailing on! Sailing on!
The transient voyagers now are gone; Yet though the hills their features hide, One memory of them will abide,-- The thought of their enraptured gaze In this the gem of Larian bays.
Gliding by! Gliding by!
Why is it that I look, ... and sigh?
What makes my heart thus vaguely yearn For strangers who will ne'er return?
I would not really have them stay, Yet grieve to see them fade away.
Hail-farewell! Hail-farewell!
Those pa.s.sing steamers seem to tell That all s.h.i.+ps, whether slow or fast, Will cross life's little bay at last, While we who linger on the strand Must daily mourn some vanished hand.
LAKE COMO IN AUTUMN
From Como's curving base of blue, To where the snow lies cold and clear, Ascends in steps of varied hue The pageant of the pa.s.sing year, As scores of mountain-sides unfold Their gorgeous robes of red and gold.
Meanwhile, where sh.o.r.e and lake unite, I see, projected far below, A counterpart in colors bright, Of snows that gleam and woods that glow,-- Two pictures of an ideal land, Divided by a single strand.
O matchless view, thus doubly fair, Impress thy beauty on my heart, That, when no longer really there, I still may see thee as thou art!
Alas, that they should ever go,-- Those steps of light, those thrones of snow!
The day declines, the colors pale, The peaks will soon be ashen gray; Yet, though the shades of night prevail, The darkness hath not come to stay; And if no leaves of gold remain, The sun will bring the Spring again.
TO THE PORTRAIT OF NAPOLEON, AS FIRST CONSUL
Painted by Andrea Appiani, in 1803, and at present in the Villa Melzi, Bellagio.
Brilliant as Lucifer, Son of the Morning, Rises this reincarnation of Mars!
Youth at its apogee, precedent scorning, Genius ascending its path toward the stars!
Never was Bonaparte's Consular glory Treated by Art so superbly as here; Never a phase of his marvellous story Handled more deftly, or rendered more clear.
Italy's effigy lies 'neath his fingers, Lombardy rests in the fold of his hand, While on his lips an expression still lingers, Stamped by a character born to command.
Hero of history, what art thou scheming, Spanning thus easily so much of Earth, Holding tenaciously, too, in thy dreaming Wave-beaten Corsica, isle of thy birth?
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