Classic Poem

NAPLES: — THE LAZZARONE .

Vesuvius, tranquil on its lava steeps,
Towers treacherous o'er the bloom of many trees,
Courting the orange-scented Ischian breeze,
That near its fuming summit faintly sweeps.

Among rich, amber fruits in luscious heaps
The lazzarone dreams by dreamy seas;
Or, on the Chiaja, in delicious ease,
Scorning the fierce sun, indolently sleeps.

But sometimes the grim mountain hurls its fire
To earth and air with deadly throbs of light,
As if to tell the world its awful needs!
And, when war warms the lazzarone's ire,
He also wakens, while the placid night
Showers star-light on his great heroic deeds!