Page:The Maremma.pdf/8



And sighing winds, that murmur thro' the wood, Fringing the beach of that Hesperian flood.

Fair is that house of solitude—and fair The green Maremma, far around it spread, A sun-bright waste of beauty—yet an air Of brooding sadness o'er the scene is shed, No human footstep tracks the lone domain, The desert of luxuriance glows in vain.

And silent are the marble halls that rise ‘Mid founts and cypress-walks, and olive-groves; All sleeps in sunshine, 'neath Cerulean skies, And still around the sea-breeze lightly roves; Yet every trace of man reveals alone, That there life once hath flourished—and is gone.

There, till around them slowly, softly stealing The summer air, deceit in every sigh, Came fraught with death, its power no sign revealing, Thy sires, Pietra, dwelt, in days gone by; And strains of mirth and melody have flowed, Where stands, all voiceless now, the still abode.

And thither doth her Lord, remorseless, bear Bianca with her child—his altered eye And brow a stern and fearful calmness wear, While his dark spirit seals their doom—to die; And the deep bodings of his victim’s heart, Tell her, from fruitless hope at once to part.

It is the summer's glorious prime—and blending Its blue transparence with the skies, the deep, Each tint of Heaven upon its breast descending, Scarce murmurs as it heaves, in glassy sleep, And on its wave reflects, more softly bright, That lovely shore of solitude and light.

Fragrance in each warm southern gale is breathing, Decked with young flowers the rich Maremma glows, Neglected vines the trees are wildly wreathing And the fresh myrtle in exuberance blows, And far around, a deep and sunny bloom Mantles the scene, as garlands robe the tomb.