Italy and Other Poems Author:William Sotheby Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE EMISSARIO OF ALBANO. Yet once again, Albano! once again Lead me, delighted, to thy still recess, Rocks, and bold heights, and woodland wilderness, And ... more »the rich verdure of thy velvet lawn, Now margining the water with fresh flow'rs, Now gradually withdrawn; To pastur'd meads with soft acclivities, Along whose gentle rise The untir'd step winds on thro' myrtle bow'rs ; Or where the cypress spires, or o'er the glade The chestnut broadly spreads its pomp of flow'ry braid. Yet—once again, On the clear tablet of thy liquid plain, As on a beauteous picture by the hand Of Nature brightly touch'd, the scenes expand, That with the roseate glow Of day-spring, or when golden suns descend, Their melting hues along thy water blend. Bring down the castle from Gandolfo's brow, To mingle with the wave of woods below, And wreck of grottos wantonly o'erlaid With ivy trail, and shrines with weeds o'ergrown, Where wild flow'rs, on the green-sod altar strown, Pan's bounteous gifts repaid: And caverns, where the Nymphs once held resort, Or stealing forth from the embowering shade, When ceased the shepherd's reed, made with the moonbeam sport. But—nor the castle on Gandolfo's brow, Nor woods that wave below, Nor caverns of the Nymphs, nor hues that blend With day-spring, or when golden suns descend, Nor Peace, that loves to rest , On thy still lake her halcyon breast, Now lure, Albano, to thy favourite haunt My willing foot revisitant. Fling wide yon gates, and to my sight expose The flood thy rocks enclose: Fling wide thy gates, and pour again the gleam Of day-light, till it dies along the stream, In gradual darkness lost. Give me again to hear The sound most musical to Summer's ear, The gushing of the waters as they flow'd Along their rocky road : ...« less