Thorwaldsen Leaving Rome for Copenhagen

Thorwaldsen, thou art going forth
To brave the breezes of the north.
Its star attracts thee, and (above
That stedfast star) the star of Love ;
Not Love the God whom poets feign
To lead us idlers in his train,
But such as patriots see him stand
Pointing toward their native land.
Revisit her, but leave behind
The brood of thy creative mind.

Partial is Italy to those
Hearing whose voice the Arts arose,
Amid them Buonarotti sate,
Proud monarch of a triple state.
Until he bow'd his aged head
And bade thee reign o'er one instead.