Classic Poem

SUN-GOD , never from skies, which in earliest
Infancy beam'd on me, shone a radiance
So welcome as thy light to-day poured
O'er the piazzas of old Livorno.

Wine-God, never did thy chalices brim o'er
With genial warmth so generous, benign,
As this cup I drain now to my friend,
Fondly the wild Apennines recalling.

O grant, God of Light, grant, Bromios, that he
And I, unhurt of soul, still accompanied
By Love, with harps still tuned, descend — there
Where Horace is — to reposeful Hades!

But on the children smile ye good auguries,
Who, like blossoms, so sweetly adorn the board;
To their mothers give peace; to bold youths
Glory, love, and happiness without end.