CASA GUIDI WINDOWS.
PART I.
I.
I HEARD last night a little child go singing
'Neath Casa Guidi windows, by the church,
"O bella libertà, O bella!" stringing
The same words still on notes he went in search
So high for, you concluded the upspringing
Of such a nimble bird to sky from perch
Must leave the whole bush in a tremble green;
And that the heart of Italy must beat,
While such a voice had leave to rise serene
Twixt church and palace of a Florence street!—
A little child, too, who not long had been
By mother's finger steadied on his feet;
And still O bella libertà he sang.
II.
Then I thought, musing, of the innumerous
Sweet songs which for this Italy outrang
From older singers' lips, who sang not thus
Exultingly and purely, yet, with pang
Sheathed into music, touched the heart of us
