| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | VI. Venice in the Evening | | By 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 lagoon and watery street. | | | | |
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