Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, VENICE, by SAMUEL VALENTINE COLE



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VENICE, by                    
First Line: Only a cloud,-far off it seemed to me
Last Line: As mist blown seaward underneath the moon.
Subject(s): Venice, Italy


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.





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