| |
| A CITY is standing in the waves | |
| That rose from the deepest lair: | |
| There each of the houses the water laves | |
| And kisses each marble stair; | |
| There palaces stand in their glory’s pride | 5 |
| And gilded are pillar and wall— | |
| But over the battlements far and wide | |
| Destruction is brooding for all. | |
| |
| No sound of wheel or of hoof is known | |
| The lion to wake from his dream, | 10 |
| But low from the Lido the night-winds moan | |
| And wildly the sea-gulls scream. | |
| The moon makes silver the silent tide, | |
| The gondolas glide their way, | |
| And seaweeds on the water ride— | 15 |
| Like wind-tossed corpses stray. | |
| |
| O pearl, thou of all in the deep most fair, | |
| Thou beauty out of the sea, | |
| Where are thy daughters with golden hair, | |
| Thy sons, oh, where may they be? | 20 |
| And where is thy splendour, the gleam of thy gold, | |
| That all the earth would dread? | |
| The arts that so many a heart would hold? | |
| Where is thy realm? With the dead. | |
| |
| By night, though, the greatest canal along, | 25 |
| Where the flickering night lights play | |
| Rise sounds like whispering and amorous song | |
| Of shades that deserted stray. | |
| Frolicking swarms of masks whirl round | |
| Upon the Piazza near by, | 30 |
| And clashing swords on the Riva resound; | |
| High masts are darkening the sky. | |
| |
| It seems as if from the night and deep | |
| Had risen the Venice of old. | |
| The waves and the sea wind wake from sleep, | 35 |
| Her corpse to rock and to hold. | |
| The sea is rising, with passionate arms | |
| There by the canal-bed to cling, | |
| As if the young spouse with his kisses and charms | |
| To her beauty new life should bring. | 40 |
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