Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Venice | | To Venice | | Vasile Alecsandri (1821–1890) |
| | Translated by Henry Stanley
TO the much-desired Venice | |
| My thoughts fly with longing | |
| When, in the clouded night, | |
| My painful feelings | |
| Are oppressed by bitter regret. | 5 |
| |
| Thus the bird wounded | |
| By a venomous serpent | |
| Flies, flies, till wearied out, | |
| And, deadened, drops | |
| Beside its flowery nest. | 10 |
| |
| O most magnificent Venice! | |
| Whosoever has been able to taste | |
| The sweetness of love | |
| Amid thy life of poesy | |
| For eternity will not forget thee! | 15 |
| |
| I love thee in thy desolation, | |
| In thy vestment of mourning; | |
| And in thy gondolas | |
| Which lose themselves among the canals, | |
| Like an uncompleted dream. | 20 |
| |
| I love thee with fervent regret, | |
| For thy beautiful Past, | |
| And for the reminiscences | |
| Of the sacred love, | |
| And of the being I have lost. | 25 | | | |
|
|
