Читать книгу Lamia's Winter-Quarters (Alfred Austin) - with the original illustrations - (Literary Thoughts Edition) онлайн

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‘I wish I had seen it,’ I said.

‘I described it to the Poet,’ Lamia replied; ‘and he then did indulge in an Impromptu, which—let me think a moment—yes—ran somewhat like this:

‘How blest are they who hunger not

For riches or renown,

And keep, within a narrow plot,

A country heart in town;

‘Who envy not, though lowly born,

Luxurious lives above,

But blend with toil, renewed each morn,

The bliss of blameless Love.’

INVOCATION

I

Where Apennine slopes unto Tuscan plain,

And breaks into dimples, and laughs to flowers,

To see where the terrors of Winter wane,

And out of a valley of grape and grain

There blossoms a City of domes and towers.

II

Teuton, Lombard, and grasping Gaul,

Prince and Pontiff, have forced their way,

Have forded the river, and scaled the wall,

And made in its palaces stye and stall,

Where spears might glisten and war-steeds neigh.

III

But ever since Florence was fair and young,

And the sun upon turret and belfry shone,

Were her windows bannered and joy-bells rung,

When back to his saddle the Stranger sprung,