Amid the Davidic
Psalming and wailing,
And—Delphic figures
Close at thy side—
Rosy, amid the dark
Cowls of the friars,
Enters Licorida,
Enters Glicera.
Then other images
Of days more fair
Come to dwell with thee
In thy secret cell.
Lo! from the pages of
Livy, the Tribunes
All ardent, the Consuls,
The crowds tumultuous,
Awake; and the fantastic
Pride of Italians
Drives them, O Monk,
Up to the Capitol;
And you whom the flaming
Fire never melted,
Conjuring voices,
Wickliffe and Huss,
Send to the broad breeze
The cry of the watchman:—
"The age renews itself;
Full is the time."
Already tremble
The mitres and crowns.
Forth from the cloister
Moves the rebellion.
Under his stole, see,
Fighting and preaching,
Brother Girolamo
Savonarola.
Off goes the tunic
Of Martin Luther;
Off go the fetters
That bound human thought.