Venice masks

Monday, 2 September 2013

The March of Xerxes - Luigi Alamanni

When in the wantonness of kingly pride,
Vain Xerxes spurred his war-horse through the tide,
And bore his fleet o’er mountain-tops,—e’en there
The Eternal bade his evil heart despair:
O’er Hellespont and Athos’ marble head,
More than a god he came, less than a man he fled.

Luigi Alamanni (1495 - 1556) Italy
Translated by Sir Aubrey de Vere
Source: Poetry Atlas

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