Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CROWNED REPUBLIC, by ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CROWNED REPUBLIC, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Forgive us, italy, who have loved thee long
Last Line: Without, within -- that dare the gates of freedom close.
Subject(s): Italy; Italians


I

FORGIVE us, Italy, who have loved thee long,
Daughter of Beauty, Cynosure of Song,
That we who knew thee fair should not have known thee strong.

For Beauty is no weakling, taking odds
From earthly Power and cringing at its nods,
But giver of sovereign laws to immemorial gods.

She is no mere contriver of design,
Of thrilling color or uplifting line;
She sings within the soul a music all divine.

And when she sets the ardent youth aflame
With duty, brooking no unworthy aim,
She is but Justice honored by another name.

II

We should have read the roster of thy great
Who from mismated fragments inchoate
The fair mosaic made of thine harmonious state;

Alike in nothing but in love of thee
While thou wert yet a dream of Liberty,
They gave thee all they were and all they hoped to be: --

He of Savoy, first man and then a king;
He of Caprera, armed with David's sling;
He of Turin, who won with wise imagining;

He of the Tuscan vineyards, firm as steel;
And he of Genoa, priest of the common weal,
And he whose voice to Venice was a tocsin-peal.

O land for whom thy sons were fain to die
As lovers are to live! No obloquy
Their secrets could unlock, their purpose turn awry.

In thy deep dungeons Freedom grew to might,
Nourished by darkness as the rose by light.
Would tyrants conquer Thought: they must abolish Night.

Behind the bars where Settembrini dwelt,
Beside the chains whose scars Poerio felt,
Above the beds bereaved where dauntless women knelt,

Thine image, as in Dante's vision, shone --
The Italy that some day would be one,
When alien yoke was cleft and cruel sands were run.

III

Now, when the old oppressor of thy land
Had weakly chosen by his side to stand
Who holds the torch and bribe in either treacherous hand,

Thought they to fright thee by war's awful price,
Or silence thee by lure of paradise --
Thee with thy glorious ancestry of sacrifice?

Forgive us, we were over-slow to scan
The incredible cunning of the monstrous plan
Whereby the spider State has set its web for Man;

But fallen are the scales, and now our heart
That with thee stormed the startled Alps, takes part
With glad and welcome aid from mint and mine and mart.

And, haply, on thy waves our ships may dare
The iron shark within his stealthy lair
Till the freed seas forget what late was their despair.

Oh, fortunate if our torn flag be found
Comrade of thine on some embattled ground
Thenceforth by Garibaldi's memory made renowned.

What name in all thine epic history
But his to summon us and trumpet thee --
Who found his foster land what thou wert born to be!

Pillar of cloud and fire, his spirit soar'th
Above thy eager legions pressing forth
And cheers them on to save their brothers of the North.

O Crowned Republic, let us be of those
Who know and conquer all the people's foes --
Without, within -- that dare the gates of Freedom close.





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