Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Cuma (Cumæ) | | The Sibyl’s Cave at Cuma | | Sir Aubrey de Vere (1788–1846) |
| | | CUMEAN Sibyl! from thy sultry cave | |
| Thy dark eyes level with the sulphurous ground | |
| Through the gloom flashing, roll in wrath around. | |
| What see they? Coasts perpetual earthquakes pave | |
| With ruin; piles half buried in the wave; | 5 |
| Wrecks of old times and new in lava drowned;— | |
| And festive crowds, sin-steeped and myrtle-crowned, | |
| Like idiots dancing on a parent’s grave. | |
| And they foresee. Those pallid lips with pain | |
| Suppress their thrilling whispers. Sibyl, spare! | 10 |
| Could Wisdom’s voice divide yon sea, or rear | |
| A new Vesuvius from its flaming plane, | |
| Futile the warning! Power despised! forbear | |
| To deepen guilt by counsel breathed in vain! | | | | |
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