True is it that Ambrosio Salinero...

True is it that Ambrosio Salinero

With an untoward fate was long involved

In odious litigation; and full long,

Fate harder still! had he to endure assaults

Of racking malady. And true it is

That not the less a frank courageous heart

And buoyant spirit triumphed over pain;

And he was strong to follow in the steps

Of the fair Muses. Not a covert path

Leads to the dear Parnassian forest's shade,

That might from him be hidden; not a track

Mounts to pellucid Hippocrene, but he

Had traced its windings.— This Savona knows,

Yet no sepulchral honours to her Son

She paid, for in our age the heart is ruled

Only by gold. And now a simple stone

Inscribed with this memorial here is raised

By his bereft, his lonely, Chiabrera.

Think not, O Passenger! who read'st the lines

That an exceeding love hath dazzled me;

No — he was One whose memory ought to spread

Where'er Permessus bears an honoured name,

And live as long as its pure stream shall flow.