Would I had waked this morn where Florence smiles, <br />A-bloom with beauty, a white rose full-blown, <br />Yet rich in sacred dust, in storied stone, <br />Precious past all the wealth of Indian isles- <br />From olive-hoary Fiesole to feed <br />On Brunelleschi's dome my hungry eye, <br />And see against the lotus-colored sky, <br />Spring the slim belfry graceful as a reed. <br />To kneel upon the ground where Dante trod, <br />To breathe the air of immortality <br />From Angelo and Raphael-TO BE- <br />Each sense new-quickened by a demi-god. <br />To hear the liquid Tuscan speech at whiles, <br />From citizen and peasant, to behold <br />The heaven of Leonardo washed with gold- <br />Would I had waked this morn where Florence smile!<br /><br />Emma Lazarus<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/restlessness/
