Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VII. Descriptive: Narrative. 1904. | | | | Descriptive Poems: III. Places | | February in Rome | | Edmund Gosse (1849–1928) |
| | | WHEN Roman fields are red with cyclamen, | |
| And in the palace gardens you may find, | |
| Under great leaves and sheltering briony-bind, | |
| Clusters of cream-white violets, oh then | |
| The ruined city of immortal men | 5 |
| Must smile, a little to her fate resigned, | |
| And through her corridors the slow warm wind | |
| Gush harmonies beyond a mortal ken. | |
| Such soft favonian airs upon a flute, | |
| Such shadowy censers burning live perfume, | 10 |
| Shall lead the mystic city to her tomb; | |
| Nor flowerless springs, nor autumns without fruit, | |
| Nor summer mornings when the winds are mute, | |
| Trouble her soul till Rome be no more Rome. | | | | |
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