Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.

Appendix: Varignano

Garibaldi

By Francesco dall’ Ongaro (1808–1873)

Translated by W. D. Howells

FLY, O my songs, to Varignano fly!

Like some lost flock of swallows homeward flying,

And hail me Rome’s Dictator, who there doth lie

Broken with wounds, but conquered not, nor dying;

Bid him think on the April that is nigh,

Month of the flowers and ventures fear-defying.

Or if it is not nigh, it soon shall come,

As shall the swallow to his last year’s home,

As on its naked stem the rose shall burn,

As to the empty sky the stars return,

As hope comes back to hearts crushed by regret;

Nay, say not this to his heart ne’er crushed yet!