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"Stiamo, Amor, a veder la gloria nostra,"

HERE tarry, Love, our glory to behold;
Nought in creation so sublime we trace;

Ah! see what sweetness show'rs upon that face,
What brightness to this earth the heavens unfold !
See, with what cunning, crimson, pearls and gold,
Her chosen vest, ne'er yet seen elsewhere, grace:
'Mid the hill's arching shades observe her pace,
Her glance replete with elegance untold!
The variegated flowers, the verdant blade,
That grow beneath yon agèd holm-oak's gloom,
Court her fair feet to press them, and to tread;
The golden stars that stud yon beauteous sky,
Cheered by her presence and her smiles, assume
Superior lustre, and serenity.

"L'aura serena, che fra verdi fronde,"

THE gentle gale that plays my face around,
Murm'ring delightful through the verdant grove,
To fond remembrance brings the time, when Love
First gave his deep although delightful wound;
Gave me to view that beauteous face, ne'er found
Veiled, as disdain, or jealousy might move;
To view her locks that shone bright gold above,
Then loose, but now with pearls and jewels bound :
Those locks she sweetly scattered to the wind,

And then coiled up again so gracefully,
That but to think on it still thrills the sense.
These Time has in more sober braids confined;
And bound my heart with such a powerful tie,
That Death alone can disengage it thence.

M

"Chi vuol veder quantunque può natura."

He who would wish the fairest work to prove,

By Heaven and Nature wrought, O! let him come
And gaze on her whose beauty and whose bloom
E'en they admire, who Virtue do not love.
And let him quickly come; for Death steals on,
And takes the best, and leaves the guilty here;
And she, aspiring to that purer sphere
Like other lovely things, will soon be gone.

He will behold, if he arrive in time,

All noble virtues, and all loveliness,

Dowered on one form in most rare symmetry: Then will he feel how feebly speaks my rhymeWeak with surprise at such unearthly grace: But if too late will ever weep with me!

"Se lamentar angelli, o verdi fronde,"

WHERE mourn the birds, or where the green young boughs Are gently moving in the summer air,

Or the clear water as it bubbling flows

Is heard from flowery banks, surpassing fair : There while I sit with pensive Love, and write Of her, who lost to earth, yet lives on high,

I pause, and listen if I hear aright

From so far, an answer to my sigh:

Yes! 'tis that well-known voice that fills mine ear,

And says, "Why waste the life which dear I deemed?

Why flows unceasingly that bitter tear?

For me weep not-I, when Death's blow was given,

Immortal grew; and when to you they seemed

For ever closed, these eyes awoke in Heaven."

"Quand' io veggio dal ciel scender l'Aurora,"

WHENE'ER with golden locks and blushing brow

I see Aurora in the eastern sky,

Love pales my cheek, and with a grief-born sigh,
Gazing I murmur-" There is Laura now."
More blest, more happy, O Tithonus, thou—
For thou thy lovely treasure canst regain;
But I, the sweetest Laurel not again
Shall e'er behold, till Death shall lay me low.
Your daily partings are not so severe,

For with returning light again is brought
She, who thine agèd locks doth still revere:
But day and night to me appear the same,

Since she hath fled, and with her every thought, Nor aught hath left me but her verdant name.

"Sento l'aura mia antica: e i dolci colli,"

I FEEL my ancient air, and the sweet hills
Again I see, from whence arose that light

That whilst Heaven pleased shone on my eager sight:

Now it hath set, the tear mine eyelid fills.

O fond, O faded hopes! O thoughts too vain!

Parched is the mead, the rills have fled away,

Empty and cold the nest wherein she lay,

In which I live, who now to die am fain;
Hoping that at the end of so much woe

By those dear eyes that held my heart in thrall
Some sweet repose from sorrow I should know.
Oh! I have served a lord of cruel ways,

And though I lavished on his altar all, The ashes strewn are all he e'er repays.

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Is this the nest in which my Phoenix fair

Reposed her golden-tinted azure wings;

'Neath which she held my heart, and from its strings Drew forth the songs or sighs of love or care?

O! source of all my joy and my despair,

Where is that lovely face whose light still flings
A lucid lustre o'er terrestrial things?

Once, lone on earth, in heaven 'tis thine to share
A happy lot; but thou hast left me here

Indeed alone, so that thy sacred tomb

(By thee made such) I wet with many a tear:
While on the hills, Night's darkest shadows stay,
From whence thou fled'st, and left'st eternal gloom
Where once thine eyes did make delightful day.

"L'aura, e l'odore, e 'l refrigerio, e l'ombra,"

THE air, the fragrance, the refreshing shade
Of the sweet laurel, and its flowery grace,
Which I the solace of my life had made,

He hath destroyed, who all things doth displace.
As when the Moon before the Sun hath strayed,
So I, the lustre of my fair one's face
Have lost I ask of Death against Death aid,
Such wild and gloomy thoughts do Love disgrace.
Beautiful lady! thou hast quickly slept:

Now if awakened 'mid the chosen bands

Where stainless souls their Maker's essence share;

And, if I Poesy's true light have kept,—

Twine my poor wreath with thy immortal hands,
That time my verse for noble minds may spare.

"Ite rime dolenti, al duro sasso,"

Go, plaintive verse, to the dull marble go,

Which hides in earth my treasure from these eyes; There call on her who answers from yon skies, Although the mortal part dwells dark and low.

Of life how I am wearied make her know,

Of stemming these dread waves that round me rise. But, copying all her virtues I so prize,

Her track I follow, yet my steps are slow.

I sing of her, living or dead, alone:

(Dead did I say? She is immortal made!)

That by the world she should be loved and known.

O, in my passage hence may she be near,

To greet my coming that's not long delayed: And may I hold in heaven the rank herself holds there!

"Volo con l'ali de' pensieri al cielo,"

So often on the wings of thought I fly

Up to Heaven's blissful seat, that I

appear

As one of those whose treasure is lodged there, The rent veil of mortality thrown by.

A pleasing chillness thrills my heart, while I

Listen her voice, who bids me paleness wear-
"Ah! now, my friend, I love thee, now revere,
For changed thy face, and manners!" doth she cry.
She leads me to her Lord: and then I bow,

Preferring humble prayer, he would allow
That I his glorious face, and hers might see.
Thus he replies:-" Thy destiny's secure;

To stay some twenty, or some ten years more,
Is but a little space, though long it seems to thee."

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