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300 TO ITALY

(1918)

BY CORINNE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON

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' somber shade

Above dim fountains listens

In some forgotten glade.

Ah! land 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.