Their heads superb!--the dream, it is my native land.

[Footnote A: "Sovra'l bel fiume d'Arno la gran villa."--_Dante._]



O DONNA DI VIRTU!

(DANTE--INFERNO, CANTO I.)


"_O mystic Lady; Thou in whom alone
Our human race surpasses all that stand
In Paradise the nearest round the throne!
So eagerly I wait for thy command
That to obey were slow though ready done._"

How oft I read. How agonized the turning,
In those my earlier days of loss and pain,--
Of eyes to space and night as though by yearning--
Some wall might yield and I behold again
A certain angel, fled beyond discerning;
In vain I chafed and sought--alas, in vain,
From spurring though my heart's dark world returned
To Dante's page, those wearied thoughts of mine;
Again I read, again my longing burned.--
A voice melodious spake in every line,
But from sad pleasure sorrow fresh I learned:
Strange was the music of the Florentine.