Committee.

WILLIAMS COLLEGE, June 19, 1798.

THE SWALLOW

From the Italian of T. Grossi by

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 1813

  Swallow from beyond the sea! 
    That, with every dawning day,
  Sitting on the balcony
    Utterest that plaintive lay! 
  What is it that thou tellest me,
    Swallow from beyond the sea?

  Haply thou, for him who went
    From thee and forgot his mate,
  Dost lament to my lament,
    Widowed, lonely, desolate. 
  Ever then, lament with me,
    Swallow from beyond the sea!

  Happier yet art thou than I,—­
    Thee thy trusty wings may bear,
  Over lake and cliff to fly,
    Filling with thy cries the air,
  Calling him continually,
    Swallow from beyond the sea!

  Could I too!—­but I must pine,
    In this dungeon close and low,
  Where the sun can never shine,
    Where the breeze can never blow,
  Whence my voice scarce reaches thee,
    Swallow from beyond the sea!

  Now September days are near,
    Thou to distant lands will fly,
  In another hemisphere;
    Other streams shall hear thy cry,
  Other hills shall answer thee,
    Swallow from beyond the sea!

  Then shall I when daylight glows,
    Waking to the sense of pain,
  ’Midst the wintry frosts and snows,
    Think I hear thy notes again—­
  Notes that seem to grieve for me,
    Swallow from beyond the sea!

  Planted here upon the ground,
    Thou shalt find a cross in spring;
  There, as evening gathers ’round,
    Swallow, come and rest thy wing. 
  Chant a strain of peace to me,
    Swallow from beyond the sea!

Vidette, 1871.

MARTIAL, BOOK X

EPIGRAM 23

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 1813

  Oh fortunate Antonius! o’er whose head
  Calm days have flown and closed the sixtieth year,
  Back on this flight he looks and feels no dread
  To think that Lethe’s waters flow so near. 
  There is no day of all the train that gives
  A pang; no moment that he would forget. 
  A good man’s span is doubled; twice he lives
  Who, viewing his past life, enjoys it yet.

Quarterly, 1865.

EXEGI MONUMENTUM

TO MELPOMENE

“Horace,"[1] Ode 30, Book III.

E.C.  BENEDICT ’21[2]

  I’ve a monument reared more enduring than brass,
    Which is higher than pyramids built by the kings,
  Through the rains and the tempests, unharmed, it shall pass,
    And the wear the corrosion of centuries brings.