1. ۱Piano di Sorrento
2. ۲
3. ۳Fortù, Fortù, my beloved one,
4. ۴ Sit here by my side,
5. ۵On my knees put up both little feet!
6. ۶ I was sure, if I tried,
7. ۷I could make you laugh spite of Scirocco.
8. ۸ Now, open your eyes,
9. ۹Let me keep you amused till he vanish
10. ۱۰ In black from the skies,
11. ۱۱With telling my memories over
12. ۱۲ As you tell your beads;
13. ۱۳All the Plain saw me gather, I garland
14. ۱۴ --The flowers or the weeds.
15. ۱۵
16. ۱۶Time for rain! for your long hot dry Autumn
17. ۱۷ Had net-worked with brown
18. ۱۸The white skin of each grape on the bunches,
19. ۱۹ Marked like a quail's crown,
20. ۲۰Those creatures you make such account of,
21. ۲۱ Whose heads--speckled white
22. ۲۲Over brown like a great spider's back,
23. ۲۳ As I told you last night--
24. ۲۴Your mother bites off for her supper.
25. ۲۵ Red-ripe as could be,
26. ۲۶Pomegranates were chapping and splitting
27. ۲۷ In halves on the tree:
28. ۲۸And betwixt the loose walls of great flintstone,
29. ۲۹ Or in the thick dust
30. ۳۰On the path, or straight out of the rockside,
31. ۳۱ Wherever could thrust
32. ۳۲Some burnt sprig of bold hardy rock-flower
33. ۳۳ Its yellow face up,
34. ۳۴For the prize were great butterflies fighting,
35. ۳۵ Some five for one cup.
36. ۳۶So, I guessed, ere I got up this morning,
37. ۳۷ What change was in store,
38. ۳۸By the quick rustle-down of the quail-nets
39. ۳۹ Which woke me before
40. ۴۰I could open my shutter, made fast
41. ۴۱ With a bough and a stone,
42. ۴۲And look thro' the twisted dead vine-twigs,
43. ۴۳ Sole lattice that's known.
44. ۴۴Quick and sharp rang the rings down the net-poles,
45. ۴۵ While, busy beneath,
46. ۴۶Your priest and his brother tugged at them,
47. ۴۷ The rain in their teeth.
48. ۴۸And out upon all the flat house-roofs
49. ۴۹ Where split figs lay drying,
50. ۵۰The girls took the frails under cover:
51. ۵۱ Nor use seemed in trying
52. ۵۲To get out the boats and go fishing,
53. ۵۳ For, under the cliff,
54. ۵۴Fierce the black water frothed o'er the blind-rock.
55. ۵۵ No seeing our skiff
56. ۵۶Arrive about noon from Amalfi,
57. ۵۷ --Our fisher arrive,
58. ۵۸And pitch down his basket before us,
59. ۵۹ All trembling alive
60. ۶۰With pink and grey jellies, your sea-fruit;
61. ۶۱ You touch the strange lumps,
62. ۶۲And mouths gape there, eyes open, all manner
63. ۶۳ Of horns and of humps,
64. ۶۴Which only the fisher looks grave at,
65. ۶۵ While round him like imps
66. ۶۶Cling screaming the children as ...
67. ۶۷ And brown as his shrimps;
68. ۶۸Himself too as bare to the middle
69. ۶۹ --You see round his neck
70. ۷۰The string and its brass coin suspended,
71. ۷۱ That saves him from wreck.
72. ۷۲But to-day not a boat reached Salerno,
73. ۷۳ So back, to a man,
74. ۷۴Came our friends, with whose help in the vineyards
75. ۷۵ Grape-harvest began.
76. ۷۶In the vat, halfway up in our houseside,
77. ۷۷ Like blood the juice spins,
78. ۷۸While your brother all bare-legged is dancing
79. ۷۹ Till breathless he grins
80. ۸۰Dead-beaten in effort on effort
81. ۸۱ To keep the grapes under,
82. ۸۲Since still when he seems all but master,
83. ۸۳ In pours the fresh plunder
84. ۸۴From girls who keep coming and going
85. ۸۵ With basket on shoulder,
86. ۸۶And eyes shut against the rain's driving;
87. ۸۷ Your girls that are older,--
88. ۸۸For under the hedges of aloe,
89. ۸۹ And where, on its bed
90. ۹۰Of the orchard's black mould, the love-apple
91. ۹۱ Lies pulpy and red,
92. ۹۲All the young ones are kneeling and filling
93. ۹۳ Their laps with the snails
94. ۹۴Tempted out by this first rainy weather,--
95. ۹۵ Your best of regales,
96. ۹۶As to-night will be proved to my sorrow,
97. ۹۷ When, supping in state,
98. ۹۸We shall feast our grape-gleaners (two dozen,
99. ۹۹ Three over one plate)
100. ۱۰۰With lasagne so tempting to swallow,
101. ۱۰۱ In slippery ropes,
102. ۱۰۲And gourds fried in great purple slices,
103. ۱۰۳ That colour of popes.
104. ۱۰۴Meantime, see the grape bunch they've brought you:
105. ۱۰۵ The rain-water slips
106. ۱۰۶O'er the heavy blue bloom on each globe
107. ۱۰۷ Which the wasp to your lips
108. ۱۰۸Still follows with fretful persistence:
109. ۱۰۹ Nay, taste, while awake,
110. ۱۱۰This half of a curd-white smooth cheese-ball
111. ۱۱۱ That peels, flake by flake,
112. ۱۱۲Like an onion, each smoother and whiter;
113. ۱۱۳ Next, sip this weak wine
114. ۱۱۴From the thin green glass flask, with its stopper,
115. ۱۱۵ A leaf of the vine;
116. ۱۱۶And end with the prickly-pear's red flesh
117. ۱۱۷ That leaves thro' its juice
118. ۱۱۸The stony black seeds on your pearl-teeth.
119. ۱۱۹ Scirocco is loose!
120. ۱۲۰Hark, the quick, whistling pelt of the olives
121. ۱۲۱ Which, thick in one's track,
122. ۱۲۲Tempt the stranger to pick up and bite them,
123. ۱۲۳ Tho' not yet half black!
124. ۱۲۴How the old twisted olive trunks shudder,
125. ۱۲۵ The medlars let fall
126. ۱۲۶Their hard fruit, and the brittle great fig-trees
127. ۱۲۷ Snap off, figs and all,
128. ۱۲۸For here comes the whole of the tempest!
129. ۱۲۹ No refuge, but creep
130. ۱۳۰Back again to my side and my shoulder,
131. ۱۳۱ And listen or sleep.
132. ۱۳۲O how will your country show next week,
133. ۱۳۳ When all the vine-boughs
134. ۱۳۴Have been stripped of their foliage to pasture
135. ۱۳۵ The mules and the cows?
136. ۱۳۶Last eve, I rode over the mountains,
137. ۱۳۷ Your brother, my guide,
138. ۱۳۸Soon left me, to feast on the myrtles
139. ۱۳۹ That offered, each side,
140. ۱۴۰Their fruit-balls, black, glossy and luscious,--
141. ۱۴۱ Or strip from the sorbs
142. ۱۴۲A treasure, or, rosy and wondrous,
143. ۱۴۳ Those hairy gold orbs!
144. ۱۴۴But my mule picked his sure sober path out,
145. ۱۴۵ Just stopping to neigh
146. ۱۴۶When he recognized down in the valley
147. ۱۴۷ His mates on their way
148. ۱۴۸With the faggots and barrels of water;
149. ۱۴۹ And soon we emerged
150. ۱۵۰From the plain, where the woods could scarce follow;
151. ۱۵۱ And still as we urged
152. ۱۵۲Our way, the woods wondered, and left us,
153. ۱۵۳ As up still we trudged
154. ۱۵۴Though the wild path grew wilder each instant,
155. ۱۵۵ And place was e'en grudged
156. ۱۵۶'Mid the rock-chasms and piles of loose stones
157. ۱۵۷ Like the loose broken teeth
158. ۱۵۸Of some monster which climbed there to die
159. ۱۵۹ From the ocean beneath--
160. ۱۶۰Place was grudged to the silver-grey fume-weed
161. ۱۶۱ That clung to the path,
162. ۱۶۲And dark rosemary ever a-dying
163. ۱۶۳ That, 'spite the wind's wrath,
164. ۱۶۴So loves the salt rock's face to seaward,
165. ۱۶۵ And lentisks as staunch
166. ۱۶۶To the stone where they root and bear berries,
167. ۱۶۷ And... what shows a branch
168. ۱۶۸Coral-coloured, transparent, with circlets
169. ۱۶۹ Of pale seagreen leaves;
170. ۱۷۰Over all trod my mule with the caution
171. ۱۷۱ Of gleaners o'er sheaves,
172. ۱۷۲Still, foot after foot like a lad
173. ۱۷۳ Till, round after round,
174. ۱۷۴He climbed to the top of Calvano,
175. ۱۷۵ And God's own profound
176. ۱۷۶Was above me, and round me the mountains,
177. ۱۷۷ And under, the sea,
178. ۱۷۸And within me my heart to bear witness
179. ۱۷۹ What was and shall be.
180. ۱۸۰
181. ۱۸۱Oh, heaven and the terrible crystal!
182. ۱۸۲ No rampart excludes
183. ۱۸۳Your eye from the life to be lived
184. ۱۸۴ In the blue solitudes.
185. ۱۸۵Oh, those mountains, their infinite movement!
186. ۱۸۶ Still moving with you;
187. ۱۸۷For, ever some new head and ... of them
188. ۱۸۸ Thrusts into view
189. ۱۸۹To observe the intruder; you see it
190. ۱۹۰ If quickly you turn
191. ۱۹۱And, before they escape you surprise them.
192. ۱۹۲ They grudge you should learn
193. ۱۹۳How the soft plains they look on, lean over
194. ۱۹۴ And love (they pretend)
195. ۱۹۵--Cower beneath them, the flat sea-pine crouches,
196. ۱۹۶ The wild fruit-trees bend,
197. ۱۹۷E'en the myrtle-leaves curl, shrink and shut:
198. ۱۹۸ All is silent and grave:
199. ۱۹۹'Tis a sensual and timorous beauty,
200. ۲۰۰ How fair! but a slave.
201. ۲۰۱So, I turned to the sea; and there slumbered
202. ۲۰۲ As greenly as ever
203. ۲۰۳Those isles of the siren, your Galli;
204. ۲۰۴ No ages can sever
205. ۲۰۵The Three, nor enable their sister
206. ۲۰۶ To join them,--halfway
207. ۲۰۷On the voyage, she looked at Ulysses--
208. ۲۰۸ No farther to-day,
209. ۲۰۹Tho' the small one, just launched in the wave,
210. ۲۱۰ Watches ...-high and steady
211. ۲۱۱From under the rock, her bold sister
212. ۲۱۲ Swum halfway already.
213. ۲۱۳Fortù, shall we sail there together
214. ۲۱۴ And see from the sides
215. ۲۱۵Quite new rocks show their faces, new haunts
216. ۲۱۶ Where the siren abides?
217. ۲۱۷Shall we sail round and round them, close over
218. ۲۱۸ The rocks, tho' unseen,
219. ۲۱۹That ruffle the grey glassy water
220. ۲۲۰ To glorious green?
221. ۲۲۱Then scramble from splinter to splinter,
222. ۲۲۲ Reach land and explore,
223. ۲۲۳On the largest, the strange square black turret
224. ۲۲۴ With never a door,
225. ۲۲۵Just a loop to admit the quick lizards;
226. ۲۲۶ Then, stand there and hear
227. ۲۲۷The birds' quiet singing, that tells us
228. ۲۲۸ What life is, so clear?
229. ۲۲۹--The secret they sang to Ulysses
230. ۲۳۰ When, ages ago,
231. ۲۳۱He heard and he knew this life's secret
232. ۲۳۲ I hear and I know.
233. ۲۳۳
234. ۲۳۴Ah, see! The sun breaks o'er Calvano;
235. ۲۳۵ He strikes the great gloom
236. ۲۳۶And flutters it o'er the mount's summit
237. ۲۳۷ In airy gold fume.
238. ۲۳۸All is over. Look out, see the gipsy,
239. ۲۳۹ Our tinker and smith,
240. ۲۴۰Has arrived, set up bellows and forge,
241. ۲۴۱ And down-squatted forthwith
242. ۲۴۲To his hammering, under the wall there;
243. ۲۴۳ One eye keeps aloof
244. ۲۴۴The urchins that itch to be putting
245. ۲۴۵ His jews'-harps to proof,
246. ۲۴۶While the other, thro' locks of curled wire,
247. ۲۴۷ Is watching how sleek
248. ۲۴۸Shines the hog, come to share in the windfall
249. ۲۴۹ --Chew, abbot's own cheek!
250. ۲۵۰All is over. Wake up and come out now,
251. ۲۵۱ And down let us go,
252. ۲۵۲And see the fine things got in order
253. ۲۵۳ At church for the show
254. ۲۵۴Of the Sacrament, set forth this evening.
255. ۲۵۵ To-morrow's the Feast
256. ۲۵۶Of the Rosary's Virgin, by no means
257. ۲۵۷ Of Virgins the least,
258. ۲۵۸As you'll hear in the off-hand discourse
259. ۲۵۹ Which (all nature, no art)
260. ۲۶۰The Dominican brother, these three weeks,
261. ۲۶۱ Was getting by heart.
262. ۲۶۲Not a pillar nor post but is dizened
263. ۲۶۳ With red and blue papers;
264. ۲۶۴All the roof waves with ribbons, each altar
265. ۲۶۵ A-blaze with long tapers;
266. ۲۶۶But the great masterpiece is the scaffold
267. ۲۶۷ Rigged glorious to hold
268. ۲۶۸All the fiddlers and fifers and drummers
269. ۲۶۹ And trumpeters bold,
270. ۲۷۰Not afraid of Bellini nor Auber,
271. ۲۷۱ Who, when the priest's hoarse,
272. ۲۷۲Will strike us up something that's brisk
273. ۲۷۳ For the feast's second course.
274. ۲۷۴And then will the flaxen-wigged Image
275. ۲۷۵ Be carried in pomp
276. ۲۷۶Thro' the plain, while in gallant procession
277. ۲۷۷ The priests mean to stomp.
278. ۲۷۸All round the glad church lie old bottles
279. ۲۷۹ With gunpowder stopped,
280. ۲۸۰Which will be, when the Image re-enters,
281. ۲۸۱ Religiously popped;
282. ۲۸۲And at night from the crest of Calvano
283. ۲۸۳ Great bonfires will hang,
284. ۲۸۴On the plain will the trumpets join chorus,
285. ۲۸۵ And more poppers bang.
286. ۲۸۶At all events, come-to the garden
287. ۲۸۷ As far as the wall;
288. ۲۸۸See me tap with a hoe on the plaster
289. ۲۸۹ Till out there shall fall
290. ۲۹۰A scorpion with wide angry nippers!
291. ۲۹۱
292. ۲۹۲ --"Such trifles!" you say?
293. ۲۹۳Fortù, in my England at home,
294. ۲۹۴ Men meet gravely to-day
295. ۲۹۵And debate, if abolishing Corn-laws
296. ۲۹۶ Be righteous and wise
297. ۲۹۷--If 'twere proper, Scirocco should vanish
298. ۲۹۸ In black from the skies!