The City of My Love

She sits among th' eternal hills, Their crown, thrice glorious and dear; Her voice is as a thousand tongues Of silver fountains, gargling clear; Her breath is prayer, her life is love, And worship of all lovely things; Her children have a gracious port, Her beggars show the blood of kings. By old Tradition guarded close, None doubt the grandeur she has seen; Upon her venerable front Is written: 'I was born a Queen!' She rules the age by Beauty's power, As once she ruled by armed might; The Southern sun doth treasure her Deep in his golden heart of light. Awe strikes the traveler when he sees The vision of her distant dome, And a strange spasm wrings his heart As the guide whispers: 'There is Rome!' Rome of the Romans! where the Gods Of Greek Olympus long held sway; Rome of the Christians, Peter's tomb, The Zion of our later day. Rome, the mailed Virgin of the world, Defiance on her brows and breast; Rome, to voluptuous pleasure won, Debauched, and locked in drunken rest. Rome, in her intellectual day, Europe's intriguing step-dame grown; Rome, bowed to weakness and decay, A canting, mass-frequenting crone. Then th' unlettered man plods on, Half chiding at the spell he feels; The artist pauses at the gate, And on the wondrous threshold kneels. The sick man lifts his languid head For those soft skies and balmy airs; The pilgrim tries a quicker pace, And hugs remorse, and patters prayers. For ev'n the grass that feeds the herds, Methinks, some unknown virtue yields; The very hinds in reverence tread The precincts of the ancient fields. But wrapt in gloom of night and death, I crept to thee, dear mother Rome; And in thy hospitable heart Found rest and comfort, health and home, And friendships, warm and living still, Although their dearest joys are fled; True sympathies that bring to life That better self, so often dead. For al the wonder that thou wert, For all the dear delight thou art, Accept an homage from my lips, That warms again a wasted heart. And, though it seems a childish prayer, I've breathed it oft, that when I die, As thy remembrance dear in it, That heart in thee might buried lie.