I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs;
A palace and a prison on each hand;
I saw from out the wave of her structure's rise
As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand:
A thousand years their cloudy wings expand
Around me, and a dying Glory smiles
O'er the far times, when many a subject land
Look'd to the winged Lion's marble pines,
Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles.
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The sylphs and ondines
And the sea-kings and queens
Long ago, long ago, on the waves built read more
The sylphs and ondines
And the sea-kings and queens
Long ago, long ago, on the waves built a city,
As lovely as seems
To some bard in his dreams,
The soul of his latest love-ditty.
Venice once was dear,
The pleasant place of all festivity,
The revel of the earth, the masque read more
Venice once was dear,
The pleasant place of all festivity,
The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy.
In Venice, Tass's echoes are no more,
And silent rows the songless gondolier;
Her palaces are crumbling read more
In Venice, Tass's echoes are no more,
And silent rows the songless gondolier;
Her palaces are crumbling to the shore,
And music meets not always now the ear.
White swan of cities, slumbering in thy nest
So wonderfully built among the reeds
Of the lagoon, read more
White swan of cities, slumbering in thy nest
So wonderfully built among the reeds
Of the lagoon, that fences thee and feeds,
As sayeth thy old historian and thy guest!
Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee,
And was the safeguard of the West.
Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee,
And was the safeguard of the West.
