Page:Poetical Remains.pdf/145

Oh! can he meet that eye, of light serene,
Whence the pure spirit looks in radiance forth,
And view that bright intelligence of mien,
Formed to express but thoughts of loftiest worth,
Yet deem that vice within that heart can reign?
—How shall he e'er confide in aught on earth again?

In silence oft, with strange, vindictive gaze,
Transient, yet filled with meaning stern and wild,
Her features, calm in beauty, he surveys,
Then turns away, and fixes on her child
So dark a glance, as thrills a mother's mind
With some vague fear, scarce owned, and undefined.

There stands a lonely dwelling, by the wave
Of the blue deep which bathes Italia's shore,
Far from all sounds, but rippling seas, that lave
Grey rocks, with foliage richly shadowed o'er;
And sighing winds, that murmur through the wood,
Fringing the beach of that Hesperian flood.