The Bridge Of Lodi

I     When of tender mind and body      I was moved by minstrelsy,     And that strain "The Bridge of Lodi"      Brought a strange delight to me. II     In the battle-breathing jingle      Of its forward-footing tune     I could see the armies mingle,      And the columns cleft and hewn III     On that far-famed spot by Lodi      Where Napoleon clove his way     To his fame, when like a god he      Bent the nations to his sway. IV     Hence the tune came capering to me      While I traced the Rhone and Po;     Nor could Milan's Marvel woo me      From the spot englamoured so. V     And to-day, sunlit and smiling,      Here I stand upon the scene,     With its saffron walls, dun tiling,      And its meads of maiden green, VI     Even as when the trackway thundered      With the charge of grenadiers,     And the blood of forty hundred      Splashed its parapets and piers . . . VII     Any ancient crone I'd toady      Like a lass in young-eyed prime,     Could she tell some tale of Lodi      At that moving mighty time. VIII     So, I ask the wives of Lodi      For traditions of that day;     But alas! not anybody      Seems to know of such a fray. IX     And they heed but transitory      Marketings in cheese and meat,     Till I judge that Lodi's story      Is extinct in Lodi's street. X     Yet while here and there they thrid them      In their zest to sell and buy,     Let me sit me down amid them      And behold those thousands die . . . XI     - Not a creature cares in Lodi      How Napoleon swept each arch,     Or where up and downward trod he,      Or for his memorial March! XII     So that wherefore should I be here,      Watching Adda lip the lea,     When the whole romance to see here      Is the dream I bring with me? XIII     And why sing "The Bridge of Lodi"      As I sit thereon and swing,     When none shows by smile or nod he      Guesses why or what I sing? . . . XIV     Since all Lodi, low and head ones,      Seem to pass that story by,     It may be the Lodi-bred ones      Rate it truly, and not I. XV     Once engrossing Bridge of Lodi,      Is thy claim to glory gone?     Must I pipe a palinody,      Or be silent thereupon? XVI     And if here, from strand to steeple,      Be no stone to fame the fight,     Must I say the Lodi people      Are but viewing crime aright? XVII     Nay; I'll sing "The Bridge of Lodi" -      That long-loved, romantic thing,     Though none show by smile or nod he      Guesses why and what I sing!