Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.
The Ruins of Ostia
By Julia Ward Howe (18191910)S
One took abroad I bid thee cast,
Then tell me if thou canst descry
A dwelling here, or there a mast.
Stands one poor skeleton of brick,
With grass are sown the hidden streets,
The palace ploughed in furrows thick.
The body of a mighty thought!
Here vowed the heart, elate with hope
When priests the struggling victim brought,—
Existence, as an endless cup,
And smile to hear of an abyss
Where life and strength are swallowed up.
Of sturdier frame and mind than we;
Tamed by their will, the unruly flood
Led their proud galleys to the sea.
One crumbling tower of Trajan’s port.
Strange that Christ’s vicar, God-inspired,
Has never had as wise a thought.