Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Robert UnderwoodJohnson

1110 Browning at Asolo

THIS is the loggia Browning loved,

High on the flank of the friendly town;

These are the hills that his keen eye roved,

The green like a cataract leaping down

To the plain that his pen gave new renown.

There to the West what a range of blue!—

The very background Titian drew

To his peerless Loves! O tranquil scene!

Who than thy poet fondlier knew

The peaks and the shore and the lore between?

See! yonder’s his Venice—the valiant Spire,

Highest one of the perfect three,

Guarding the others: the Palace choir,

The Temple flashing with opal fire—

Bubble and foam of the sunlit sea.

Yesterday he was part of it all—

Sat here, discerning cloud from snow

In the flush of the Alpine afterglow,

Or mused on the vineyard whose wine-stirred row

Meets in a leafy bacchanal.

Listen a moment—how oft did he!—

To the bells from Fontalto’s distant tower

Leading the evening in … ah, me!

Here breathes the whole soul of Italy

As one rose breathes with the breath of the bower.

Sighs were meant for an hour like this

When joy is keen as a thrust of pain.

Do you wonder the poet’s heart should miss

This touch of rapture in Nature’s kiss

And dream of Asolo ever again?

“Part of it yesterday,” we moan?

Nay, he is part of it now, no fear.

What most we love we are that alone.

His body lies under the Minster stone,

But the love of the warm heart lingers here.