GARIBALDI

Once the Cyclopean king the poets sung
Was Etna's beacon of eternal light
That led the grateful mariner along
The trackless desert of the sea, when night
And storm and darkness o'er the planet hung
Their mantle, ere the needle's marvelous sight
Tracked through the gloom the pole star, and revealed
To the foiled pilot's ken where 'twas concealed.

But in our day flames on Caprera's shore
A beacon brighter than old Etna's ray,
That signals, "Italy's long night is o'er,
And there has dawned for her a brighter day
Than when upon Rome's seven hills late power
That held a world in awe: the gracious away
Of reason, truth, and right, and liberty."
This precious boon Italia owes to thee.

Brave Garibaldi! And the time will come
When Caprera will be to men a shrine
More sacred than the prophet's honored tombs
At Mecca, or the mount in Palestine
Where died the fabled Savior. But no gloom
Will cast its shadow o'er our lives from thine,
More than thy country's saviour, whom men bless
As freedom's champion, lover of thy race!