Mrs. Browning's Grave At Florence

FLORENCE wears an added grace, All her earlier honors crowning; Dante's birthplace, Art's fair home, Holds the dust of Barrett Browning. Guardian of the noble dead That beneath thy soil lie sleeping, England, with full heart, commends This new treasure to thy keeping. Take her, she is half thine own; In her verses' rich outpouring, Breathes the warm Italian heart, Yearning for the land's restoring. From thy skies her poet-heart Caught a fresher inspiration, And her soul obtained new strength, With her bodily translation. Freely take what thou hast given, Less her verses' rhythmic beauty, Than the stirring notes that called Trumpet-like thy sons to duty. Rarest of exotic flowers In thy native chaplet twining, To the temple of thy great Add her--she is worth enshrining.