Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Venice | | Venice in the Evening | | Aubrey Thomas de Vere (1814–1902) |
| | | ALAS! mid all this pomp of the ancient time, | |
| And flush of modern pleasure, dull Decay | |
| O’er the bright pageant breathes her shadowy gray. | |
| As on from bridge to bridge I roam and climb, | |
| It seems as though some wonder-working chime | 5 |
| (Whose spell the vision raised and still can sway) | |
| To some far source were ebbing fast away; | |
| As though, by man unheard, with voice sublime | |
| It bade the sea-born Queen of Cities follow | |
| Her sire into his watery realm far down,— | 10 |
| Beneath my feet the courts sound vast and hollow; | |
| And more than evening’s darkness seems to frown | |
| On sable barks that, swift yet trackless, fleet | |
| Like dreams o’er dim lagune and watery street. | | | | |
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