  St. Peter’s eve, from dim Janiculum The battle’s thunder drowned the bells that tolled, The great guns flashed, but that night as of old We kept St. Peter’s vigil, and the dome Blazed with its myriad little lamps of gold, And all the river ran with yellow foam, While on the torchlit Capitol unrolled The banner blew of our Republic, Rome, Then silence fell with treacherous midnight,— An hour ere dawn we heard a wild alarm, The blast of bugles, the swift call to arm, We sang his war hymn and fell in to fight; Then as dawn gathered on the Esquiline Our grand old lion gave the battle sign. |
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