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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TIVOLI, by WILLIAM S. SOTHEBY First Line: Spirit! Who lovest to live unseen Last Line: And horace smote the lyre. | |||
SPIRIT! who lovest to live unseen, By brook or pathless dell, Where wild woods burst the rocks between, And floods, in streams of silver sheen, Gush from their flinty cell! Or where the ivy waves her woof, And climbs the crag alone, Haunts the cool grotto, daylight proof, Where loitering drops that wear the roof Turn all beneath to stone. Shield me from summer's blaze of day, From noon-tide's fiery gale, And, as thy waters round me play, Beneath the o'ershadowing cavern lay, Till twilight spreads her veil. Then guide me where the wandering moon Rests on Maecenas' wall, And echoes at night's solemn noon In Tivoli's soft shades attune The peaceful waterfall. Again they float before my sight The bower, the flood, the glade; Again on yon romantic height The Sybil's temple towers in light, Above the dark cascade. Down the steep cliff I wind my way Along the dim retreat, And, 'mid the torrents' deafening bray Dash from my brow the foam away, Where clashing cataracts meet. And now I leave the rocks below, And issuing forth from night, View on the flakes that sunward flow, A thousand rainbows round me glow, And arch my way with light. Again the myrtles o'er me breathe, Fresh flowers my path perfume, Round cliff and cave wild tendrils wreathe, And from the groves that bend beneath Low trail their purple bloom. Thou grove, thou glade of Tivoli, Dark flood, and rivulet clear, That wind, where'er you wander by, A stream of beauty on the eye, Of music on the ear: -- And thou, that, when the wandering moon Illumed the rocky dell, Didst to my charmed ear attune The echoes of night's solemn noon -- Spirit unseen! farewell! Farewell! -- o'er many a realm I go, My natal isle to greet, Where summer sunbeams mildly glow, And sea-winds health and freshness blow O'er freedom's hallow'd seat. Yet there, to thy romantic spot Shall fancy oft retire, And hail the bower, the stream, the grot, Where earth's sole lord the world forgot, And Horace smote the lyre. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE GROTTO OF EGERIA by WILLIAM S. SOTHEBY LOVE AND DEATH by SARA TEASDALE UPON JULIA'S CLOTHES by ROBERT HERRICK MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER PRECIOUS LEG: HER MORAL by THOMAS HOOD MOTHER O' MINE by RUDYARD KIPLING FANCIES AT NAVESINK: 2 by WALT WHITMAN EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 11. LOVE WILL OUT by PHILIP AYRES BLESS, DEAR SAVIOUR, THIS CHILD by THOMAS BECK ON THE EVE OF DEPARTURE FROM O-- by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS |
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