Keen was the vision which Ambition lent To Rome's great captains, when the vacant realm Was waiting for a chief to seize the helm, And their stern martial looks were southward bent From Gaul or Britain, like a wizard's gaze Constraining some weak victim to his harm, While yet the nations had no countercharm Against a despot's eye, in those fierce days; The city of their greed seemed well-nigh theirs, Half in their grasp, full clearly bodied forth; My Rome should softly float into the north At my fond wish, convoyed by gentle airs - Rapt into Freedom's land a little while From Pio's grief, and Antonelli's guile! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RAIN AFTER A VAUDEVILLE SHOW by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THE POET by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR SONNET: 8. WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS INTENDED TO THE CITY by JOHN MILTON ADVICE TO A LADY [IN AUTUMN] by PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE ON HIS RETURN FROM SPAIN by THOMAS WYATT ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 12. TO SIR FRANCIS HENRY DRAKE, BARONET by MARK AKENSIDE |