Roma
Date al vento le chiome, isfavillanti
Gli occhi glauchi, del sen nuda il candore,
Salti su ’l cocchio; e l’impeto e il terrore
Van con fremito anelo a te d’avanti.
L’ombra del tuo cimier l’aure tremanti,
Come di ferrugigno astro il bagliore,
Trasvola; e de le tue ruote al fragore
Segue la polve de gl’imperi infranti.
Tale, Roma, vedean le genti dome
La imagin tua ne’ lor terrori antichi:
Oggi una mitra a le regali chiome,
Oggi un rosario che la man t’implichi
Darti vorrien per sempre. Oh ancor del nome
Spauri il mondo e i secoli affatichi!
Rome
Once with thy locks upon the wind outspread,
Breast bare, and sea-blue eyes afire for war,
Thou didst the chariot urge; – before thee far
Panic and fear with panting breath had fled:
The shadows of the helm upon thine head,
Like the fierce dazzle of an iron star,
Outran the winds; behind thy swift-wheeled car
Hovered the dust of trampled empires dead.
Great Rome! the nations vanquished by thy fame
Saw thus thine image in their ancient fears:
To-day thy regal locks a mitre’s shame
Dishonours; in thy hand bedewed with tears
The beads of prayer ! - O once more with thy name
Affright the world and free the wearied years!
from Levia Gravia, ii. 28. - Giosuè Carducci
Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907) was an Italian Neoclassical poet, who in 1906, became the first Italian writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Gli occhi glauchi, del sen nuda il candore,
Salti su ’l cocchio; e l’impeto e il terrore
Van con fremito anelo a te d’avanti.
L’ombra del tuo cimier l’aure tremanti,
Come di ferrugigno astro il bagliore,
Trasvola; e de le tue ruote al fragore
Segue la polve de gl’imperi infranti.
Tale, Roma, vedean le genti dome
La imagin tua ne’ lor terrori antichi:
Oggi una mitra a le regali chiome,
Oggi un rosario che la man t’implichi
Darti vorrien per sempre. Oh ancor del nome
Spauri il mondo e i secoli affatichi!
Rome
Once with thy locks upon the wind outspread,
Breast bare, and sea-blue eyes afire for war,
Thou didst the chariot urge; – before thee far
Panic and fear with panting breath had fled:
The shadows of the helm upon thine head,
Like the fierce dazzle of an iron star,
Outran the winds; behind thy swift-wheeled car
Hovered the dust of trampled empires dead.
Great Rome! the nations vanquished by thy fame
Saw thus thine image in their ancient fears:
To-day thy regal locks a mitre’s shame
Dishonours; in thy hand bedewed with tears
The beads of prayer ! - O once more with thy name
Affright the world and free the wearied years!
from Levia Gravia, ii. 28. - Giosuè Carducci
Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907) was an Italian Neoclassical poet, who in 1906, became the first Italian writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
