Amalfi

"Then there is Amalfi, the most prosperous town in Lombardy, the most noble, the most illustrious on account of its conditions, and most affluent and opulent. The territory of Amalfi borders on that of Naples. This is a fair city, but less important than Amalfi."

"A wealthy and populous city, none richer in silver, gold and garments from innumerable places."

"There would I linger, then go forth again; And he who steers due east, doubling the cape, Discovers, in a crevice of the rock, The fishing-town, Amalfi. Haply there A heaving bark, an anchor on the strand, May tell him what it is; but what it was, Cannot be told so soon. The time has been, When on the quays along the Syrian coast, ’Twas asked and eagerly, at break of dawn, “What ships are from Amalfi?” when her coins, Silver and gold, circled from clime to clime; From Alexandria southward to Sennaar, And eastward, through Damascus and Cabul And Samarcand, to thy great wall, Cathay. Then were the nations by her wisdom swayed; And every crime on every sea was judged According to her judgments. In her port Prows, strange, uncouth, from Nile and Niger met, People of various feature, various speech; And in their countries many a house of prayer, And many a shelter, where no shelter was, And many a well, like Jacob’s in the wild, Rose at her bidding. Then in Palestine, By the wayside, in sober grandeur stood A hospital, that, night and day, received The pilgrims of the west; and, when ’twas asked, “Who are the noble founders?” every tongue At once replied, “The merchants of Amalfi.” That hospital, when Godfrey scaled the walls, Sent forth its holy men in complete steel; And hence, the cowl relinquished for the helm, That chosen band, valiant, invincible, So long renowned as champions of the Cross, In Rhodes, in Malta. For three hundred years There, unapproached but from the deep, they dwelt; Assailed forever, yet from age to age Acknowledging no master. From the deep They gathered in their harvests; bringing home, In the same ship, relics of ancient Greece, That land of glory where their fathers lay, Grain from the golden vales of Sicily, And Indian spices. Through the civilized world Their credit was ennobled into fame; And when at length they fell, they left mankind A legacy, compared with which the wealth Of Eastern kings, what is it in the scale?— The mariner’s compass."

"It is the mid-May sun that, rayless and peacefully gleaming, Out of its night’s short prison this blessed of lands is redeeming; It is the fire evoked from the hearts of the citron and orange, So that they hang, like lamps of the day, translucently beaming; It is the veinless water, and air unsoiled by a vapor, Save what, out of the fulness of life, from the valley is steaming; It is the olive that smiles, even he, the sad growth of the moonlight, Over the flowers, whose breasts triple-folded with odors are teeming;— Yes, it is these bright births that to me are a shame and an anguish; They are alive and awake,—I dream, and know I am dreaming; I cannot bathe my soul in this ocean of passion and beauty,— Not one dewdrop is on me of all that about me is streaming; O, I am thirsty for life,—I pant for the freshness of nature, Bound in the world’s dead sleep, dried up by its treacherous seeming."

"Sweet the memory is to me Of a land beyond the sea, Where the waves and mountains meet, Where amid her mulberry-trees Sits Amalfi in the heat, Bathing ever her white feet In the tideless summer seas.In the middle of the town, From its fountains in the hills, Tumbling through the narrow gorge, The Canneto rushes down, Turns the great wheels of the mills, Lifts the hammers of the forge. ’Tis a stairway, not a street, That ascends the deep ravine, Where the torrent leaps between Rocky walls that almost meet. Toiling up from stair to stair Peasant girls their burdens bear; Sunburnt daughters of the soil, Stately figures tall and straight, What inexorable fate Dooms them to this life of toil?Lord of vineyards and of lands, Far above the convent stands. On its terraced walk aloof Leans a monk with folded hands, Placid, satisfied, serene, Looking down upon the scene Over wall and red-tiled roof; Wondering unto what good end All this toil and traffic tend, And why all men cannot be Free from care and free from pain, And the sordid love of gain, And as indolent as he.Where are now the freighted barks From the marts of east and west; Where the knights in iron sarks Journeying to the Holy Land, Glove of steel upon the hand, Cross of crimson on the breast? Where the pomp of camp and court? Where the pilgrims with their prayers? Where the merchants with their wares, And their gallant brigantines Sailing safely into port Chased by corsair Algerines?Vanished like a fleet of cloud, Like a passing trumpet-blast, Are those splendors of the past, And the commerce and the crowd! Fathoms deep beneath the seas Lie the ancient wharves and quays, Swallowed by the engulfing waves; Silent streets and vacant halls, Ruined roofs and towers and walls; Hidden from all mortal eyes Deep the sunken city lies: Even cities have their graves!This is an enchanted land! Round the headlands far away Sweeps the blue Salernian bay With its sickle of white sand: Further still and furthermost On the dim discovered coast Pæstum with its ruins lies, And its roses all in bloom Seem to tinge the fatal skies Of that lonely land of doom.On his terrace, high in air, Nothing doth the good monk care For such worldly themes as these. From the garden just below Little puffs of perfume blow, And a sound is in his ears Of the murmur of the bees In the shining chestnut-trees; Nothing else he heeds or hears. All the landscape seems to swoon In the happy afternoon; Slowly o’er his senses creep The encroaching waves of sleep, And he sinks, as sank the town, Unresisting, fathoms down, Into caverns cool and deep!Walled about with drifts of snow, Hearing the fierce north-wind blow, Seeing all the landscape white, And the river cased in ice, Comes this memory of delight, Comes this vision unto me Of a long-lost Paradise, In the land beyond the sea."