20. "I lost a damsel in that hour, "Of all the land the loveliest flower; "Doubloons a hundred I would pay, "And think her ransom cheap that day." Wo is me, Alhama! 21. And as these things the old Moor said, They severed from the trunk his head; And to the Alhambra's wall with speed "Twas carried, as the King decreed. Wo is me, Alhama! 22. And men and infants therein weep 23. And from the windows o'er the walls The sable web of mourning falls; SONETTO DI VITTORELLI. PER MONACA. Sonetto composto in nome di un genitore, a cui era morta poco innanz una figlia appena maritata; è diretto al genitore della sacra sposa. Di due vaghe donzelle, oneste, accorte Il ciel, che degne di più nobil sorte A le fumanti tede d' imeneo : La tua, Francesco, in sugellate porte Corro a quel marmo, in cui la figlia or posa, TRANSLATION FROM VITTORELLI. ON A NUN. Sonnet composed in the name of a father whose daughter had recently died shortly after her marriage; and addressed to the father of her who had lately taken the veil. Or two fair virgins, modest, though admired, Heaven made us happy; and now, wretched sires, And gazing upon either, both required. But thou at least from out the jealous door, Which shuts between your never-meeting eyes, May'st hear her sweet and pious voice once more : I to the marble, where my daughter lies, Rush,-the swoln flood of bitterness I pour, And knock, and knock, and knock-but none replies. VOL. IV. THE CURSE OF MINERVA. SLOW sinks, more lovely ere his race be run, Not, as in the northern climes, obscurely bright, O'er the hush'd deep the yellow beam he throws, The God of gladness sheds his parting smile. And dark the mountain's once delightful dyes. Gloom o'er the lovely land he seem'd to pour, But lo! from high Hymettus to the plain The Queen of Night asserts her silent reign ;* No murky vapour, herald of the storm, Hides her fair face, or girds her glowing form: The groves of olive, scatter'd dark and wide, The twilight in Greece is much shorter than in our own country The days in winter are longer, but in summer of less duration. ↑ The kiosk is a Turkish summer-bouse--the palm is without the present walls of Athens, not far from the temple of Theseus, between which and the tree the wall intervenes---Cephisus's stream is indeed scanty, and Ilissus has no stream at all. |