To SleepO gentle Sleep! do they belong to thee,These twinklings of oblivion? Thou dost loveTo sit in meekness, like the brooding Dove,A captive never wishing to be free.This tiresome night, O Sleep! thou art to meA Fly, that up...

The Lovers' WalkSweet twining hedgeflowers wind-stirred in no wise On this June day; and hand that clings in hand: - Still glades; and meeting faces scarcely fann'd; -An osier-odoured stream that draws the skiesDeep to its heart;...

To NatureIt may indeed be phantasy, when I Essay to draw from all created thingsDeep, heartfelt, inward joy that closely clings; And trace in leaves and flowers that round me lieLessons of love and earnest piety. So let it b...

13Pia dei Tolomei to Love and Death (1295) The distant hills are blue as lips of death; Between myself and them the hot swamps steam In fetid curls, which, in the twilight, seem Like gathering phantoms waiting for my breath; ...

Work Without HopeLines Composed 21st February, 1827All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair -The bees are stirring - birds are on the wing -And Winter slumbering in the open air,Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spri...

Sonnet XXXIIIVenus VictrixCould Juno's self more sovereign presence wear Than thou, 'mid other ladies throned in grace? - Or Pallas, when thou bend'st with soul-stilled faceO'er poet's page gold-shadowed in thy hair?Dost...

When haughty expectations prostrate lie,And grandeur crouches like a guilty thing,Oft shall the lowly weak, till nature bringMature release, in fair societySurvive, and Fortune's utmost anger try;Like these frail snowdrops that togethe...

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge,September 3, 1802Earth has not anything to show more fair:Dull would he be of soul who could pass byA sight so touching in its majesty:This City now doth, like a garment, wearThe beauty of the m...

Sonnet XXVWinged HoursEach hour until we meet is as a bird That wings from far his gradual way along The rustling covert of my soul, - his songStill loudlier trilled through leaves more deeply stirr'd:But at the hour of m...

10FARINATA DEGLI UBERTI TO CONQUERED FLORENCE (1260) Now shall the ploughshare over thee be passed, And wiped away each crowded square and street; And seed shall sprinkle thee, and wholesome wheat Replace thy crops of human hat...