Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Vesuvius, the Mountain | | Vesuvius | | William Gibson (1826–1887) |
| | | BUT, lo! the burning mountain’s lava cone | |
| Fills up the vision! Ever does it breathe | |
| From its hot chasms thick sulphur-clouds, which wreathe | |
| Its summit when the still air is unblown. | |
| Mid-height, the mount, with luscious grape o’ergrown, | 5 |
| Swarms with live villages; while underneath | |
| The surface do the no less live flames seethe | |
| The Titan’s heart; convulséd agony shown | |
| In quake and rending of the solid earth! | |
| Not seldom, with a throe more terrible, | 10 |
| He bursts his bonds, and blazes arméd forth | |
| With vengeance engined in his lurid hell! | |
| Beautiful in thy play, O Spirit of Fire, | |
| Mountains may crush not thine unconquerable ire! | | | | |
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