EPITAPHS

V

          TRUE is it that Ambrosio Salinero
          With an untoward fate was long involved
          In odious litigation; and full long,
          Fate harder still! had he to endure assaults
          Of racking malady. And true it is
          That not the less a frank courageous heart
          And buoyant spirit triumphed over pain;
          And he was strong to follow in the steps
          Of the fair Muses. Not a covert path
          Leads to the dear Parnassian forest's shade,                10
          That might from him be hidden; not a track
          Mounts to pellucid Hippocrene, but he
          Had traced its windings.--This Savona knows,
          Yet no sepulchral honours to her Son
          She paid, for in our age the heart is ruled
          Only by gold. And now a simple stone
          Inscribed with this memorial here is raised
          By his bereft, his lonely, Chiabrera.
          Think not, O Passenger! who read'st the lines,
          That an exceeding love hath dazzled me;                     20
          No--he was One whose memory ought to spread
          Where'er Permessus bears an honoured name,
          And live as long as its pure stream shall flow.