Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Arona | | The Statue of St. Carlo Borromeo | | Sir Aubrey de Vere (1788–1846) |
| | | TRUE fame is this,—through love, and love alone, | |
| To stand thus honored where we first saw day; | |
| True puissance this,—the hand of lawful sway | |
| In love alone to lift, that hand whereon, | |
| Dove-like, Eternal Peace hath fixed her throne, | 5 |
| And whence her blessing wings o’er earth its way; | |
| True rule to God belongs. Who share it? They | |
| Through whom God’s gifts on humankind are strewn. | |
| Bless thus thy natal place, great Priest, forever! | |
| And thou, Arona, by thy placid bay, | 10 |
| Second thy sleepless shepherd’s mute endeavor. | |
| The choice is thine, if that high Grace, like showers | |
| Of sunbeams rained on all thy hearths and bowers, | |
| Shall feed thy growth or quicken thy decay! | | | | |
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