Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Amalfi | | At Amalfi | | Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885) |
| | | IT is the mid-May sun that, rayless and peacefully gleaming, | |
| Out of its night’s short prison this blessed of lands is redeeming; | |
| It is the fire evoked from the hearts of the citron and orange, | |
| So that they hang, like lamps of the day, translucently beaming; | |
| It is the veinless water, and air unsoiled by a vapor, | 5 |
| Save what, out of the fulness of life, from the valley is steaming; | |
| It is the olive that smiles, even he, the sad growth of the moonlight, | |
| Over the flowers, whose breasts triple-folded with odors are teeming;— | |
| Yes, it is these bright births that to me are a shame and an anguish; | |
| They are alive and awake,—I dream, and know I am dreaming; | 10 |
| I cannot bathe my soul in this ocean of passion and beauty,— | |
| Not one dewdrop is on me of all that about me is streaming; | |
| O, I am thirsty for life,—I pant for the freshness of nature, | |
| Bound in the world’s dead sleep, dried up by its treacherous seeming. | | | | |
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