Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.
Venice
By August von Platen-Hallermünde (1796–1835)Translated by Thomas Davidson
T
In the still air that softly breathes around,
Wafted from yonder halls, where once the sound
Of jest and revelry was wont to swell.
She dared the ages, yet Venetia fell;
The wheel of Fortune hath no backward bound:
Her haven is desolate; few ships are found
At the Slavonian Quay, once known so well.
How didst thou once, Venetia, gorgeously
Flaunt, like a haughty queen in gold array,
As Paolo Veronese painted thee!
A poet on thy Giant Stair to-day
Lingers beside each wondrous balcony,
His tribute of a fruitless tear to pay.