Poem by Emma Lazarus

Restlessness

Written before visiting Florence.

Would I had waked this morn where Florence smiles,
A-bloom with beauty, a white rose full-blown,
Yet rich in sacred dust, in storied stone,
Precious past all the wealth of Indian isles—
From olive-hoary Fiesole to feed
On Brunelleschi's dome my hungry eye,
And see against the lotus-colored sky,
Spring the slim belfry graceful as a reed.
To kneel upon the ground where Dante trod,
To breathe the air of immortality
From Angelo and Raphael—TO BE—
Each sense new-quickened by a demi-god.
To hear the liquid Tuscan speech at whiles,
From citizen and peasant, to behold
The heaven of Leonardo washed with gold—
Would I had waked this morn where Florence smile!

1. Don Rafael
2. Assurance
3. 1492
4. Spring Longing
5. The New Ezekiel

David Lawrence Restlessness ("At the open door of the room I stand and look at the night")

Print

1115 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version