Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Florence | | Giotto’s Tower | | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) |
| | | HOW many lives, made beautiful and sweet | |
| By self-devotion and by self-restraint, | |
| Whose pleasure is to run without complaint | |
| On unknown errands of the Paraclete, | |
| Wanting the reverence of unshodden feet, | 5 |
| Fail of the nimbus which the artists paint | |
| Around the shining forehead of the saint, | |
| And are in their completeness incomplete! | |
| In the old Tuscan town stands Giotto’s tower, | |
| The lily of Florence blossoming in stone,— | 10 |
| A vision, a delight, and a desire,— | |
| The builder’s perfect and centennial flower, | |
| That in the night of ages bloomed alone, | |
| But wanting still the glory of the spire. | | | | |
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