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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  July in Siena

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.

Appendix: Siena

July in Siena

By Folgore da San Geminiano (c. 1270–c. 1332)

(From Of the Months)
Translated by D. G. Rossetti

FOR July, in Siena, by the willow-tree,

I give you barrels of white Tuscan wine

In ice far down your cellars stored supine;

And morn and eve to eat in company

Of those vast jellies dear to you and me;

Of partridges and youngling pheasants sweet,

Boiled capons, sovereign kids: and let their treat

Be veal and garlic, with whom these agree.

Let time slip by, till by and by, all day;

And never swelter through the heat at all,

But move at ease at home, sound, cool, and gay;

And wear sweet-colored robes that lightly fall;

And keep your tables set in fresh array,

Not coaxing spleen to be your seneschal.