Time was when tales of gold lands in the West,
And fountains quelling death forevermore,
Launched Hope's frail shallop on an idle quest
Through strange seas toward this bleak, unbeaconed shore.

The charm has fled before the living stream
That floods each erewhile trackless hill and plain;
Yet since the heart of man must have its dream,
We turn our eyes upon the east again.

There lies the Eldorado—storied land
Of gold-domed cities gleaming from afar;
There Founts of Youth gush from the jewelled sand,
And Song woos Love beneath the evening star.

O wondrous world that I have never seen!
And deem too sadly I shall never see—
My life one long impassioned wish has been
To press thy sacred shores with reverent knee!

O Rome! to thread thy dim old ways and stand
Where stood the mighty ones of other days.
With palace, temple, forum on each hand,
And fill my soul with one long, thirsty gaze!

To be within the Coliseum's wall,
A still hour when the moon's autumnal beams
Through crumbled arch and rift of ruin fall,
Forgetting my poor self in solemn dreams!

Then would I resurrect the buried years;
The splendid past should walk before my gaze;
The mighty dead should murmur in my ears,
And I should be a Roman of old days.

“Look thou on queenly Naples and then die!”
I deem it not so dear a price to pay,
If with such beauty in the heart and eye,
I look my last on earth and swoon away.

Would that such fate were mine! Yet know I not
If ever human heart drew happiness
From hope fulfilled. Is it a fairer lot
To long eternally and not possess?