Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Rome, Ruins of | | The Circus | | William Wetmore Story (1819–1895) |
| | (From A Roman Lawyer in Jerusalem)
HE pants to stand | |
| In its vast circus, all alive with heads | |
| And quivering arms and floating robes,—the air | |
| Thrilled by the roaring fremitus of men,— | |
| The sunlit awning heaving overhead, | 5 |
| Swollen and strained against its corded veins, | |
| And flapping out its hem with loud report,— | |
| The wild beasts roaring from the pit below, | |
| The wilder crowd responding from above | |
| With one long yell that sends the startled blood | 10 |
| With thrill and sudden flush into the cheeks,— | |
| A hundred trumpets screaming,—the dull thump | |
| Of horses galloping across the sand,— | |
| The clang of scabbards, the sharp clash of steel,— | |
| Live swords, that whirl a circle of gray fire,— | 15 |
| Brass helmets flashing ’neath their streaming hair,— | |
| A universal tumult,—then a hush | |
| Worse than the tumult,—all eyes straining down | |
| To the arena’s pit, all lips set close, | |
| All muscles strained,—and then that sudden yell, | 20 |
| Habet!—“That ’s Rome,” says Lucius: so it is! | |
| That is, ’t is his Rome, ’t is not yours and mine. | | | | |
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