A Dream of Italy

A Dream of Italy (in Short Poetry Collection 165 )A DREAM OF ITALY.AN ALLEGORY INTRODUCING “MAE MADDEN.”I.We two had been parted, God pity us, whenThe stars were unnamed and when heaven was dim;We two had been parted far back on the rimAnd the outermost border of heaven’s red We two had been parted ere the meeting of menOr God had set compass on spaces as yet.We two had been parted ere God had setHis finger to spinning the spaces with stars,--And now, at the last in the gold and setOf the sun of Venice, we two had met.II.Where the lion of Venice, with brows afrown,With tossed mane tumbled, and teeth in air,Looks out in his watch o’er the watery town,With a paw half lifted, with his claws half bare,By the blue Adriatic, in the edge of the sea,I saw her. I knew her, but she knew not me.I had found her at last! Why, I had sailedThe antipodes through, had sought, had hailedAll flags, had climbed where the storm clouds curled,And called from the awful arched dome of the world.III.I saw her one moment, then fell back abashedAnd filled full to the throat. . . . Then I turned me once moreSo glad to the sea, while the level sun flashedOn the far, snowy Alps. . . . Her breast! Why, her breastWas white as twin pillows that allure you to rest;Her sloping limbs moved like to melodies, toldAs she rose from the sea, and she threw back the goldOf her glory of hair, and set face to the shore. . . .I knew her! I knew her, though we had not metSince the far stars sang to the sun’s first set.IV.How long I had sought her! I had hungered, nor ateOf any sweet fruits. I had tasted