ONLY a cloud,—far off it seemed to me No habitable city,—when, behold, Came gradual distinctions in the fold Of tremulous vapor shadowing things to be; Forms whether of wave or air rose silently O'er quiet lanes of water, caught the gold Of the Italian sunset; and thus rolled The veil from off the Bride of the Blue Sea. Alas, the irrecoverable dream! Cathedral, palace, all things all too soon Melted like faces in a troubled stream, And, looking backward over the lagoon, I saw the phantom city faintly gleam As mist blown seaward underneath the moon. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CREDO by WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY THE OWL CRITIC by JAMES THOMAS FIELDS TO LUCASTA, [ON] GOING BEYOND THE SEAS by RICHARD LOVELACE GLOUCESTER MOORS by WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY JINNY THE JUST by MATTHEW PRIOR |