Poems Author:George Bancroft 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: ROME. Daughter of Mars, Eternal Rome, all-hail! Thy form may fade, thy youthful prowess fail, Thy hoary age be wrapt in sable stole, Still art thou empress of... more » the willing soul; And strains of ancient glory, strong and deep, Still o'er thy soil with wizard echoes sweep, And balmy air steals wooing through thy gloom. Thine is the clime, where groves of citron bloom 5 The golden orange glows mid darkling leaves; Earth from her lap the abundant harvest heaves; From her full horn exulting plenty showers The sunny grape, oil, corn, and fruits, and flowers; In verdant arch leaps Bacchus' cheering boon From tree to tree, and twines the gay festoon ; O'er the clipt hedge the cypress towers; high wave The laurel's boughs, best guerdon of the brave; No rushing winds the myrtle rudely shake; Spring's sweetest bird revels in bush and brake; The flowering earth no icy robes enwrap. Here Flora rests her head on Winter's lap ; Relenting Winter winnows perfumed air, And all his months the maiden's livery wear. But not thy clime's sweet breath and cloudlet sheen Thus wake the soul's desire, Italia's queen! Sure there are lands more brilliant suns can boast; Breathe gales more fragrant from the Arab's coast; Far brighter skies are spread o'er Ganges' stream, Than o'er thy waters, golden Tiber, beam ; And where Potomac swells through virgin banks, In statelier pomp wave Ceres' bearded ranks. Yet still to thee the pilgrim's vows belong, Thou favourite land of history, arts, and song ; Thy tale of elder days the heart enchants; And pictured Fable treads thy classic haunts, Steals through the time-worn piles, the marble gloom, The crumbling arch, the ivy-mantled tomb ; Of phantasy and truth the darling child; Her's the creating wand, the pencil wild ; Moved by her spell, departe...« less