Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.
Etna
By Matthew Arnold (18221888)T
Thick breaks the red flame;
All Etna heaves fiercely
Her forest-clothed frame.
Are haunts meet for thee.
But where Helicon breaks down
In cliff to the sea,
Send far their light voice
Up the still vale of Thisbe,
O, speed, and rejoice!
Lie strewn the white flocks;
On the cliff-side the pigeons
Roost deep in the rocks;
Soft lulled by the rills,
Lie wrapt in their blankets,
Asleep on the hills.
So white through the gloom?
What garments out-glistening
The gold-flowered broom?
Outperfumes the thyme?
What voices enrapture
The night’s balmy prime?
His choir, the Nine.
The leader is fairest,
But all are divine.
They stream up again!
What seeks on this mountain
The glorified train?
In the spring by their road;
Then on to Olympus,
Their endless abode!
Of what is it told?
What will be forever;
What was from of old.
Of all things; and then
The rest of immortals,
The action of men.
The strife with the palm;
The night in her silence,
The stars in their calm.