The sun had set, the city gates were passed,
Up swelled the mighty dome;
The dream of childhood had come true at last,
We were in Rome!
The fountains trembled in their light and shade,
The pale new moon was dropping down the sky,
The pillars of the stately colonnade
Seemed to be marching by.
And Rome lay all before us in its glory,
Its glory and its beautiful decay,
But, like the student in the oft-read story,
I could have turned away,
To the still chamber with its half-closed shutter,
Where the beloved father lay in pain,
To sit beside him in contentment utter,
Never to part again.