Many a solemn hymn,
By starlight sung,
Sweeps through the arches dim,
Thy wrecks among.
Many a flute's low swell,
On thy soft air
Lingers, and loves to dwell
With summer there.
Thou hast the south's rich gift
Of sudden song--
A charmed fountain, swift,
Joyous and strong.
Thou hast fair forms that move
With queenly tread;
Thou hast proud fanes above
Thy mighty dead.
Yet wears thy Tiber's shore
A mournful mien:
Rome, Rome! Thou art no more
As thou hast been!
--Mrs. Hemans
CAPRI
Rising from the purpling water
With her brow of stone,
Sprite or nymph or Triton's daughter,
Rising from the purpling water,
Capri sits alone--
Sits and looks across the billow
Now the day is done
Resting on her rocky pillow
Sits and looks across the billow
Toward the setting sun.
Misty visions trooping sadly
Glimmer through her tears,
Shapes of men contending madly,--
Misty visions trooping sadly
From the vanished years.
Here Tiberius from his palace
On the headland gray
Hurls his foes with gleeful malice,
Proud Tiberius at his palace
Murd'ring men for play.
There Lamarque's recruits advancing
Scale yon rocky spot,
'Neath the moon their bright steel glancing,
See Lamarque's recruits advancing
Through a storm of shot.
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