Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Naples | | Naples, 1866 | | John Bruce Norton (1815–1883) |
| | “E quindi uscimmi rivedere le stelle.”—Dante.
I THINK not, when I gaze upon thy bay, | |
| That clasps, as with a lover’s arms, the sea | |
| Tripping to kiss the curved shore smilingly, | |
| O! Naples, of thy charms, though poets say, | |
| “See Naples, and in death then pass away.” | 5 |
| I have no eye nor ear but for the glee, | |
| The tide, the bustle, the activity, | |
| Thronging thy streets, as ’t were a festive day. | |
| To me, an exile, for how many a year, | |
| In death-like India, thou art as the gate | 10 |
| Of life, or morning’s advent after night; | |
| As welcome as to Dante was the light, | |
| When issuing from the realms of woeful fate, | |
| He saw the blessed stars once more appear. | | | | |
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