There they had fished! There they had bathed! There they had drunk the
good red wine of Amato and called for brindisi! There they had lain on
the warm sand of the caves! There they had raced together to Madre
Carmela and her frying-pan! There they had shouted "O sole mio!"
There--there they had been young together!
The shining sea was blotted out from the boy's eyes by tears.
"Povero signorino!" he whispered. "Povero signorino!"
And then, as his "Paese" vanished, he added for the last time the words
which he had whispered in the dawn by the grave of his padrone, "Dio ci
mandi buon riposo in Paradiso."