Part 7 — SONNET. Italian "Unification" in 1861.
Reading edition
The land which Improvisatore's throng With one light bound would "freedom" improvise, Freedom by England dragged from raging seas Through centuries of wrestling right and wrong. The gamesters crowned, their loaded dice downflung, Divide their gains;[147] while—shamelessly at ease— Gold-spangled fortune, tinselled to the knees, Runs on the tight rope of the state new-strung! O liberty, stern goddess, sad and grave, To whom are dear the hearts that watch and wait, The hand laborious, strenuous as the glaive, The strong, staid head, the soul supreme o'er fate, With what slow scorn thou turn'st, incensed of mien, From mimic freedom's operatic scene! Aubrey de Vere.