Roma

Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907)

From the Italian by Frank Sewall

From “Poesie”

GIVE to the wind thy locks; all glittering

Thy sea-blue eyes, and thy white bosom bared,

Mount to thy chariot, while in speechless roaring

Terror and Force before thee clear the way!

The shadow of thy helmet, like the flashing

Of brazen star, strikes through the trembling air.

The dust of broken empires, cloud-like rising,

Follows the awful rumbling of thy wheels.

So once, O Rome, beheld the conquered nations

Thy image, object of their ancient dread.

To-day a mitre they would place upon

Thy head, and fold a rosary between

Thy hands. O name! again to terrors old

Awake the tired ages and the world!