Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO ITALY, by CORINNE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON Poet's Biography First Line: Fair land of dear desire Last Line: What all our souls would dream! Subject(s): Italy; Patriotism; Perugino [pietro Vannucci] (1450-1523); Italians | ||||||||
Fair land of dear desire, Where beauty like a gleam Awakes the hidden fire Of what our souls would dream! Where shining ilex glistens, And cypress' sombre shade Above dim fountains listens In some forgotten glade. Ah! and of dear desire, Thy beauty floods again My heart with sudden fire And burns away its pain, I dream with Perugino On some far Umbrian hill, Or walk with sweet Saint Francis Till this world's fret is still; Until my soul reposes As, once unscourged he lay, Amid the thornless roses Until the break of day. Dear saint, who was the brother Of every living thing, Could we to one another Thy gracious message bring, The world renewed, awaking, Would shed the shattered, torn, Grim night of its own making, And pledge a peace reborn. Fair land of dear desire Thy beauty like a dream Shall kindle and inspire What all our souls would dream! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...1851: A MESSAGE TO DENMARK HILL by RICHARD HOWARD TONIGHT THE HEART-SHAPED LEAVES by JAN HELLER LEVI JEWISH GRAVEYARDS, ITALY by PHILIP LEVINE SAILING HOME FROM RAPALLO by ROBERT LOWELL SUNLIGHT AND SHADOW by LISEL MUELLER HOW DUKE VALENTINE CONTRIVED by BASIL BUNTING FRAGMENTS FROM ITALY: 1 by JOHN CIARDI FROM A MOTOR IN MAY by CORINNE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON |
|