Classic Poem

Great Donizetti would have loved thee well,
Had he but heard thy voice supreme and rare
Ring in Edgardo's terrible despair,
Or by the Borgia's devastating spell.

No tones more rich and wonderful e'er fell
From human lips, and their sweet sound could bear
Far from the mind all vestiges of care,
And all the sorrow of the soul dispel.

The world has echoed with thy matchless fame,
Thy brows are laureled from the fields of Art,
And now thou standest beautiful and strong;
While countless lovers of thy glorious name,
Hail the nobility of thy valiant heart,
And crown thee monarch of Italian Song!