Access Online - The European Library

Access Online - The European Library Access Online - The European Library

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22ARIADNE.A year had gone by since Maryx had leftRome, and it was summer again — full summer,with all the people going out,in merryhonestfooling, to the country; and the lusty-lungedreapers coming through the streets all the nightlong, singing, with the tasselled corn in theirhair, and the poppies behind then- ears.Ah, the poppies! — Love's gift.WhenIsaw themIgrew more heart-sickthan before, and all the loud sonorous reapingsongsbeat on my ears with a stupid hatefulsound.One night they came by me over the bridge,louder andmore mirthful than ever,and the girlsof our streets were dancing the saltarella withsome young fisher-fellows from the boats below,and all of a sudden the harmless, noisy joyousnessof it all smote me so sharply thatIcouldnot bear it any longer,andIrose up and walkedaway.All the day long, and some time before,Idonot know whyit was, but a sudden restlessnesshad seized on me, and that kind of feeling ofsomething strange about me which one has at

ARIADNE. 23times; nervous depression, wise men say, andweak mencaU such things presentiments.Ifelt a loathing of those blithe guitars andshaking tambourines, and handsome maidens;Irose and caUed Pales, and strolledaway in thewhite stiUnight alongthe familiar ways. BynightRome is still a " city for the gods; the shadowsveil its wounds,the lustre silvers aU its stones;its silence is haunted as no other silence is;ifyou have faith, there where the dark gloss of thelaurel brushes the marble as in Agrippa's time,you wUl see the Immortals passing by chainedwith deadleaves and weeping. In earlier daysIhad seen them; days when no human affectionchained my thoughts to earth:nowIwent overthe stones bent and blind,and only thinking —flunking — thinking — when wecan only think andcannot dream, then truly we areold.Iwent along through the Forum, and pastthe arch of Trajan, and through Constantine's,out on that broad road between the mulberrytrees, with the ruins of the inniunerable templesstandingeverywhereamidst the fields andgardens,the reaped com and the ripening cherries.

ARIADNE. 23times; nervous depression, wise men say, andweak mencaU such things presentiments.Ifelt a loathing of those blithe guitars andshaking tambourines, and handsome maidens;Irose and caUed Pales, and strolledaway in thewhite stiUnight alongthe familiar ways. BynightRome is still a " city for the gods; the shadowsveil its wounds,the lustre silvers aU its stones;its silence is haunted as no other silence is;ifyou have faith, there where the dark gloss of thelaurel brushes the marble as in Agrippa's time,you wUl see the Immortals passing by chainedwith deadleaves and weeping. In earlier daysIhad seen them; days when no human affectionchained my thoughts to earth:nowIwent overthe stones bent and blind,and only thinking —flunking — thinking — when wecan only think andcannot dream, then truly we areold.Iwent along through the Forum, and pastthe arch of Trajan, and through Constantine's,out on that broad road between the mulberrytrees, with the ruins of the inniunerable templesstandingeverywhereamidst the fields andgardens,the reaped com and the ripening cherries.

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