Page:Poems Blagden.djvu/56

THE INVITATION.

If I called thee, wouldst thou come,
 Love, across the Northern Sea,
From thy dark and rugged home
 Back to Italy and me?

Here the sky is blue, intense;
 Here the Arno's lingering feet
Blend, with Earth's glad affluence,
 Sounds and sighs of summer sweet.

Here the fireflies wing their flight,
 Pulsing to the magic tune
Murmured every breathless night
 Through our warm, delicious June.

Here the roses in sweet scorn
 Smile above the rugged wall;
Here wave fields of yellow corn
 Lit by poppies, red and tall.