Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Ravenna | | De Foix’s Monument and Dante’s Tomb | | Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
| | (From Don Juan)
I CANTER by the spot each afternoon | |
| Where perished in his fame the hero-boy, | |
| Who lived too long for men, but died too soon | |
| For human vanity, the young De Foix! | |
| A broken pillar not uncouthly hewn, | 5 |
| But which neglect is hastening to destroy, | |
| Records Ravenna’s carnage on its face, | |
| While weeds and ordure rankle round the base. | |
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| I pass each day where Dante’s bones are laid; | |
| A little cupola, more neat than solemn, | 10 |
| Protects his dust, but reverence here is paid | |
| To the bard’s tomb, and not the warrior’s column. | |
| The time must come when both, alike decayed, | |
| The chieftain’s trophy and the poet’s volume, | |
| Will sink where lie the songs and wars of earth, | 15 |
| Before Pelides’ death or Homer’s birth. | | | | |
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