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Home  »  The Sonnets of Europe  »  Lodovico Paterno

Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888.

Ye Airs! Sweet Airs

Lodovico Paterno

Translated by Henry Francis Cary
Aure, O Aure! che’l ciel nudo e sereno.

YE airs! sweet airs, that through the naked sky

Fan your aurelian wings in wanton play;

Or shedding quiet slumber, as ye fly,

’Mid the dim forest murmuring urge your way;

To you these garlands, and this basket high

Piled up with lily-bells and roses gay,

And fragrant violets of purplest dye,

Icon, all fainting in the noontide ray,

Scatters, a votive offering to your power:

And oh! as ye receive the balmy spoil,

Temper the inclement beam; and while his flail

He plies unceasing through the sultry hour,

Hoarse Echo answering ever to his toil,

Dispel the parted chaff with brisker gale.