THE sun-browned girl, whose limbs recline When noon her languid hand has laid Hot on the green flakes of the pine, Beneath its narrow disk of shade; As, through the flickering noontide glare, She gazes on the rainbow chain Of arches, lifting once in air The rivers of the Roman's plain; -- Say, does her wandering eye recall The mountain-current's icy wave, -- Or for the dead one tear let fall, Whose founts are broken by their grave? From stone to stone the ivy weaves Her braided tracery's winding veil, And lacing stalks and tangled leaves Nod heavy in the drowsy gale. And lightly floats the pendent vine, Thatswings beneath her slender bow, Arch answering arch, -- whose rounded line Seems mirrored in the wreath below. How patient Nature smiles at Fame! The weeds, that strewed the victor's way, Feed on his dust to shround his name, Green where his proudest towers decay. See, through that channel, empty now, The scanty rain its tribute pours, -- Which cooled the lip and laved the brow Of conquerors from a hundred shores. Thus bending o'er the nation's bier, Whose wants the captive earth supplied, The dew of Memory's passing tear Falls on the arches of her pride! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOMESDAY BOOK: FATHER WHIMSETT by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE CREATION by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER THE GIRL OF CADIZ by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE DOVE by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR VALENTINES TO MY MOTHER: 1882 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE PORTRAIT by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI |