A Roman Aqueduct

THE sun-browned girl, whose limbs recline When noon her languid hand has laid Hot on the green flakes of the pine, Beneath its narrow disk of shade; As, through the flickering noontide glare, She gazes on the rainbow chain Of arches, lifting once in air The rivers of the Roman's plain;-- Say, does her wandering eye recall The mountain-current's icy wave,-- Or for the dead one tear let fall, Whose founts are broken by their grave? From stone to stone the ivy weaves Her braided tracery's winding veil, And lacing stalks and tangled leaves Nod heavy in the drowsy gale. And lightly floats the pendent vine, That swings beneath her slender bow, Arch answering arch,--whose rounded line Seems mirrored in the wreath below. How patient Nature smiles at Fame! The weeds, that strewed the victor's way, Feed on his dust to shroud his name, Green where his proudest towers decay. See, through that channel, empty now, The scanty rain its tribute pours,-- Which cooled the lip and laved the brow Of conquerors from a hundred shores. Thus bending o'er the nation's bier, Whose wants the captive earth supplied, The dew of Memory's passing tear Falls on the arches of her pride!