’Twas night in Florence!
Pale the eve had come,
And flung o’er Nature’s form a sable shroud.
With step as light as joy the day had gone,
And sunk into his jeweled couch, o’erhung
With crimson canopy and crystal sheen.
The rosy-colored clouds, with emerald fringed,
That veiled the blushing sky, had faded far—
And as the night crept on with noiseless tread,
Bright starry eyes looked on the sleeping Earth,