IN THE ALBUM AT POSSAGNO,

ON REVISITING POSSAGNO AFTER AN ABSENCE OF TWO YEARS, AUGUST 1856.

Two years older, two years wiser,

Ánd, by every visit páid here,

Made, at least, two whole years happier.
Só let mé go on, and never

Absent from thee, at one time, be

Móre than two years, loved Possagno!

TO SIGNORA ELISA PAROLINI,

ON OUR LEAVING BASSANO.

FROM our northern home, rejoicing,
Óne short month ago we cáme here,
Beckoned by a smiling vision,

To the walls of old Bassano.

Tó our northern home returning,

Why so sad and slow our steps now?

Ah! behind us left the vision,

And the walls of old Bassano.

BASSANO, September 15, 1856.

POET AND ALBUM.

POET.

ANOTHER album! well, I sometimes think:
How happy poets, always thus to have
A pretty album ready to their hand!

ALBUM.

Not yet a poet! well, I sometimes think: How luckless albums! not one in a thousand, Once, in his whole life, fálls in with a poet. BASSANO, August 21, 1856.

TO DON PIETRO ABATE BONVICINI,

WHO REQUESTED THE AUTHOR TO WRITE A VERSE IN HIS ALBUM.

To bid me write 's to bid the drunkard drink,
The miser hoard, the dice-player play on:
Thou dost not love me, or thou 'dst bid me burn
Inkstand and pen and book, and now, at last,
Begin to be a wise man and say nothing.

BASSANO, August 21, 1856.

TO SIGNOR FRANCESCO AMBROSI

OF BORGO, IN THE VAL SUGANA,

ON HIS LEAVING BASSANO, SEPT. 12, 1858.

FAREWELL, my friend, and, as thou hast begun,
Press on, undaunted, up the hill of Knowledge;
For though th' ascent be steep, and never mortal
Has sét foot, or shall sét foot, on the top,

Its paths are pleasant all, and sweet and wholesome,
Refreshed by breezes, and with flowers perfumed,
And upon every side commanding wide.

And various prospect, shadowy or in sunshine.
Thére thou shalt not be justled by the crowd,
Or by the whirling chariot-wheel o'errun,
Or thrust into the mire, or choked with dust,
Or by the saucy, liveried lackey flouted;
But, climbing, with the few, assiduous upwards,
Look, through the thin air, down upon the glimmer
Of thrones and coronets in the haze below,
Not without pity with, perhaps, a tear.

Then, when at last thy failing heart and breath
And tottering step will carry thee no further,
Desist contented, and be laid to rest

On some bold cliff or jutting promontory
With larch or birch crowned, or gray juniper,
And on the everlasting rock beside thee,

Be these words chiseled: Thus far, his stout heart
And strong, untiring nerve and sinew brought him.

TO ROMILDA RAGAZZONI,

FRANCESCO RAGAZZONI, AND GIAMBATTISTA BASEGGIO,

ON OUR LEAVING BASSANO, SEPT. 18, 1856.

ROUND this table, by this lámp's light,
Where so oft we 've met ye, happy,
We shall not again soon méet ye
Fare ye well! think of us sometimes.

Round this table, bý this lámp's light,
Where so oft we 've met ye, happy,
In our thoughts we 'll often meet ye
Fare ye well! think of us sometimes.

Round this table, by this lámp's light,
Where so oft we 've met ye, happy,
Máy new happy friends still meet ye
Fare ye well! think of us sometimes.

TO SIGNOR GIAMBATTISTA BASEGGIO

ON MY LEAVING BASSANO, SEPT. 18, 1856

FARE thee well! I don't complain that
Thou tak'st with thee a so large slice
Of this poór heart — I complain but

Thát thou tak'st that slice so sudden.

I SAW, in Dresden, on a windy day,

A man and woman walking side by side,

I tell a pláin fact, not a poet's story,

And to my reader's judgment leave the moral
He on his arm was carrying his great coat,
She, upon hers, a heavy-laden basket;

-

When, lo! a blast of wind comes, and the man,
Attempting to put on his coat, lets fall

Out of his mouth, ah, misery! his cigar;
But the compassionate woman quickly sets

Her basket on the ground, and with her right hand
Helping the coat on, with the left picks up,
And puts into her own mouth, the cigar,
And whiffs, and keeps it lighting, till the man
Ready and buttoned up, then gives it back,
And takes her basket, and, all right once more,
Away they go, the man with his cigar,

The woman with the man, well pleased and happy.

3 CHEMNITZER STRASSE, DRESDEN, November 10, 1856.