LOVE AND ITALY
by: Robert Underwood Johnson
(1853-1937)
 HEY halted
at the terrace wall;
- Below, the towered city lay;
- The valley in the moonlight's thrall
- Was silent in a swoon of May.
- As hand to hand spake one soft word
- Beneath the friendly ilex-tree,
- They knew not, of the flame that stirred,
- What part was Love, what Italy.
-
- They knew what makes the moon more bright
- Where Beatrice and Juliet are,--
- The sweeter perfume in the night,
- The lovelier starlight in the star;
- The more that glowing hour did prove
- Beneath the sheltering ilex-tree,--
- That Italy transfigures Love
- As Love transfigures Italy.
|
"Love and Italy" is reprinted
from The Little Book of American Poets: 1787-1900. Ed.
Jessie B. Rittenhouse. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1915. |
MORE POEMS BY ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON |
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