WHEREIN HE SINGS LAURA TO ITALY

O warmed with ardent virtue and adorned,
Gentlest of souls, for whom my pen has power;
House of unique integrity, white tower
Unshakable, against assault forewarned;
O flame, O roses where Narcissus scorned
His own sweet image for a sweeter flower!
O bliss through which the soul can stretch an hour
Of light! O lovely face that soul has mourned
As inaccessible! If your name's praise
Could reach, I should fill Bactra and bless Thule,
Nile, Tanais, Calpe and Olympus duly;
But since I cannot set the four wide ways
Of the world on fire, that land shall hear and shine,
Locked by the Alp, split by the Apennine.