IN the fair city of Florence, on a time, Were gather'd once, brought from a distant clime, Nature's wild denizens. It chanced one day, Escaped, a lion roam'd the public way. Amid the terror and disorder spread, A frantic mother with her infant fled. Oh, how can words that mother's anguish tell, When from her arms the precious burden fell! At the same instant, horrified, she saw Her child beneath the monster's hungry jaw! Aghast and motionless, as marble fixed, She stood. 'Twas but a moment thus, the next By fear o'ercome, by fear restor'd to sense, -- O charm of love! frenzy sublime, intense! -- Upon her knees she sank -- "My child, my child -- Give me my boy!" she cried in accents wild. Was it a miracle? the piteous cries Moved the fierce beast: it turn'd on her its eyes, Seem'd to divine a mother's heart implor'd That her dear babe might be to her restor'd; Rais'd tenderly the infant from the street And laid the darling treasure at her feet; Look'd on the child, now smiling and content, Then slowly on its way it quietly went. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EROS (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY [DECEMBER 16, 1773] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE EAGLE THAT IS FORGOTTEN by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY THE DEFINITION OF LOVE by ANDREW MARVELL SUPER FLUMINA BABYLONIS by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE SONG AT THE FEAST OF BROUGHAM CASTLE; UPON RSTORATION OF LORD CLIFFORD by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH JIM'S WHISTLE by ALEXANDER ANDERSON |