Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Thrasimene, the Lake | | Thrasimene | | John Edmund Reade (1800–1870) |
| | (From Italy)
THE AZURE Thrasimene! how the name | |
| Calls up the quickened life-blood to the heart: | |
| Visions of fight and old heroic fame | |
| Before the mind’s eye into being start, | |
| Deeds which their inspiration still impart: | 5 |
| Here fell the Romans’ eagle wings outspread | |
| Struck in the tempest by the ethereal dart; | |
| Here valor sunk, his blood like water shed, | |
| Dying upon his foes, the Roman never fled. | |
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| All strife was vain, the darkening mists rolled down, | 10 |
| Blinding them trampled on the marshy strand, | |
| While the foe rushed from yon hill’s sunlit crown, | |
| Front, flank, and rear on the devoted band; | |
| Vain their wild rally, vainer still their stand: | |
| Yet frantic courage hewed its desperate way | 15 |
| To where yon ridge’s triple heights expand: | |
| Conquered and conqueror’s dust have passed away, | |
| But that once blood-dyed stream records the dreadful day. | | | | |
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