Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DOLCE FAR NIENTE, by CHARLES GRAHAM HALPINE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DOLCE FAR NIENTE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My friend, my chum, my trusty crony!
Last Line: Two loafers couched in perfect bliss.
Alternate Author Name(s): O'reilly, Miles
Subject(s): Friendship; Idleness; Laziness; Sloth; Indolence


MY friend, my chum, my trusty crony!
We are designed, it seems to me,
To be two happy lazzaroni,
On sunshine fed, and macaroni,
Far off by some Sicilian sea.

From dawn to eve in the happy land,
No duty on us but to lie --
Straw-hatted on the shining sand,
With bronzing chest and arm and hand --
Beneath the blue Italian sky.

There, with the mountains idly glassing
Their purple splendors in the sea --
To watch the white-winged vessels passing
(Fortunes for busier fools amassing),
This were a heaven to you and me.

Our meerschaums coloring cloudy brown,
Two young girls coloring with a blush,
The blue waves with a silver crown,
The mountain shadows dropping down,
And all the air in perfect hush.

Thus should we lie in the happy land,
Nor fame, nor power, nor fortune miss;
Straw-hatted on the shining sand,
With bronzing chest and arms and hand, --
Two loafers couched in perfect bliss.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net