The Garden of Boccacio

  1. 1Or late, in one of those most weary hours,
  2. 2When life seems emptied of all genial powers,
  3. 3A dreary mood, which he who ne'er has known
  4. 4May bless his happy lot, I sate alone;
  5. 5And, from the numbing spell to win relief,
  6. 6Call'd on the Past for thought of glee or grief.
  7. 7In vain! bereft alike of grief and glee,
  8. 8I sate and cow'r'd o'er my own vacancy!
  9. 9And as I watch'd the dull continuous ache,
  10. 10Which, all else slumb'ring, seem'd alone to wake;
  11. 11O Friend[478:2]! long wont to notice yet conceal,
  12. 12And soothe by silence what words cannot heal,
  13. 13I but half saw that quiet hand of thine
  14. 14Place on my desk this exquisite design.
  15. 15Boccaccio's Garden and its faery,
  16. 16The love, the joyaunce, and the gallantry!
  17. 17An Idyll, with Boccaccio's spirit warm,
  18. 18Framed in the silent poesy of form.
  1. 19Like flocks adown a newly-bathed steep
  2. 20Emerging from a mist: or like a stream
  3. 21Of music soft that not dispels the sleep,
  4. 22But casts in happier moulds the slumberer's dream,
  5. 23Grazed by an idle eye with silent might
  6. 24The picture stole upon my inward sight.
  7. 25A tremulous warmth crept gradual o'er my chest,
  8. 26As though an infant's finger touch'd my breast.
  9. 27And one by one (I know not whence) were brought
  10. 28All spirits of power that most had stirr'd my thought
  11. 29In selfless boyhood, on a new world tost
  12. 30Of wonder, and in its own fancies lost;
  13. 31Or charm'd my youth, that, kindled from above,
  14. 32Loved ere it loved, and sought a form for love;
  15. 33Or lent a lustre to the earnest scan
  16. 34Of manhood, musing what and whence is man!
  17. 35Wild strain of Scalds, that in the sea-worn caves
  18. 36Rehearsed their war-spell to the winds and waves;
  19. 37Or fateful hymn of those prophetic maids,
  20. 38That call'd on Hertha in deep forest glades;
  21. 39Or minstrel lay, that cheer'd the baron's feast;
  22. 40Or rhyme of city pomp, of monk and priest,
  23. 41Judge, mayor, and many a guild in long array,
  24. 42To high-church pacing on the great saint's day:
  25. 43And many a verse which to myself I sang,
  26. 44That woke the tear, yet stole away the pang
  27. 45Of hopes, which in lamenting I renew'd:
  28. 46And last, a matron now, of sober mien,
  29. 47Yet radiant still and with no earthly sheen,
  30. 48Whom as a faery child my childhood woo'd
  31. 49Even in my dawn of thought--Philosophy;
  32. 50Though then unconscious of herself, pardie,
  33. 51She bore no other name than Poesy;
  34. 52And, like a gift from heaven, in lifeful glee,
  35. 53That had but newly left a mother's knee,
  36. 54Prattled and play'd with bird and flower, and stone,
  37. 55As if with elfin playfellows well known,
  38. 56And life reveal'd to innocence alone.
  1. 57Thanks, gentle artist! now I can descry
  2. 58Thy fair creation with a mastering eye,
  3. 59And all awake! And now in fix'd gaze stand,
  4. 60Now wander through the Eden of thy hand;
  5. 61Praise the green arches, on the fountain clear
  6. 62See fragment shadows of the crossing deer;
  7. 63And with that serviceable nymph I stoop,
  8. 64The crystal, from its restless pool, to scoop.
  9. 65I see no longer! I myself am there,
  10. 66Sit on the ground-sward, and the banquet share.
  11. 67'Tis I, that sweep that lute's love-echoing strings,
  12. 68And gaze upon the maid who gazing sings:
  13. 69Or pause and listen to the tinkling bells
  14. 70From the high tower, and think that there she dwells.
  15. 71With old Boccaccio's soul I stand possest,
  16. 72And breathe an air like life, that swells my chest.
  17. 73The brightness of the world, O thou once free,
  18. 74And always fair, rare land of courtesy!
  19. 75O Florence! with the Tuscan fields and hills
  20. 76And famous Arno, fed with all their rills;
  21. 77Thou brightest star of star-bright Italy!
  22. 78Rich, ornate, populous,--all treasures thine,
  23. 79The golden corn, the olive, and the vine.
  24. 80Fair cities, gallant mansions, castles old,
  25. 81And forests, where beside his leafy hold
  26. 82The sullen boar hath heard the distant horn,
  27. 83And whets his tusks against the gnarled thorn;
  28. 84Palladian palace with its storied halls;
  29. 85Fountains, where Love lies listening to their falls;
  30. 86Gardens, where flings the bridge its airy span,
  31. 87And Nature makes her happy home with man;
  32. 88Where many a gorgeous flower is duly fed
  33. 89With its own rill, on its own spangled bed,
  34. 90And wreathes the marble urn, or leans its head,
  35. 91A mimic mourner, that with veil withdrawn
  36. 92Weeps liquid gems, the presents of the dawn;--
  37. 93Thine all delights, and every muse is thine;
  38. 94And more than all, the embrace and intertwine
  39. 95Of all with all in gay and twinkling dance!
  40. 96Mid gods of Greece and warriors of romance,
  41. 97See! Boccace sits, unfolding on his knees
  42. 98The new-found roll of old Maeonides;[480:1]
  43. 99But from his mantle's fold, and near the heart,
  44. 100Peers Ovid's Holy Book of Love's sweet smart![480:2]
  45. 101O all-enjoying and all-blending sage,
  46. 102Long be it mine to con thy mazy page,
  47. 103Where, half conceal'd, the eye of fancy views
  48. 104Fauns, nymphs, and wingéd saints, all gracious to thy muse!
  1. 105Still in thy garden let me watch their pranks,
  2. 106And see in Dian's vest between the ranks
  3. 107Of the trim vines, some maid that half believes
  4. 108The vestal fires, of which her lover grieves,
  5. 109With that sly satyr peeping through the leaves!