As on a rugged hill, when evening falls, The skilled young shepherdess Waters the strange and beautiful plant That can scarcely spread its leaves So far from its lifegiving native springtime, So on my agile tongue love awakens The new flower of a strange language. To sing as best I can of you, So gracious and lovely, I give up being heard by my own countrymen And trade familiar Thames for the fair Arno. Love so willed it, and I, from the sighs of others, Know that love never willed in vain. Ah, if only my dull heart and stony breast were as fine a soil as for heavenly seed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PRAYER TO THE WIND by THOMAS CAREW THE BATTLEFIELD by EMILY DICKINSON THE HUMBLE-BEE by RALPH WALDO EMERSON WITCH-WIFE by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S BURIAL HYMN by WALT WHITMAN THE DEAD LEAF by ANTOINE VINCENT ARNAULT EN TOUR; A SONG SEQUENCE: 5. THE EXILE by ALBERTA BANCROFT |