VENICE lay dreaming in the morning light, | |
| Her fairy towers reflected in the wave; | |
| As the dim islands faded from our sight, | |
| One backward look we gave,— | |
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| Then on! where duty calls, and smiling home | 5 |
| Her arms spreads forth the errant ones to greet! | |
| Dear faces rise beyond the ocean foam, | |
| And rest and peace are sweet. | |
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| But I must leave thee, Italy! To-day | |
| Thou didst put on thy brightest smiles for me,— | 10 |
| Mountain, and lake, and vine-clad valley lay | |
| Wrapped in an azure sea; | |
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| While, floating in the magic atmosphere, | |
| Like a mirage I saw thy beauty rise, | |
| And loveliest as the parting hour drew near, | 15 |
| Thou didst enchant mine eyes! | |
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| Thus in my heart I bear thee, stamped in light, | |
| Thine image leaves me not, where’er I go,— | |
| The shimmering lake, the mountains, height o’er height | |
| Heaven-crowned with radiant snow. | 20 |
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| Those Alps! whose secrets I shall never see, | |
| In whose blue depths such hidden glories lie,— | |
| Like the calm summits of futurity, | |
| They rise against the sky! | |
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| On the horizon of my thought they stand,— | 25 |
| A barrier, yet an inspiration, too! | |
| Beyond those heights there lies a lovelier land | |
| Than poet ever drew. | |
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| Beyond,—ah yes! I linger on the word,— | |
| Whate’er of earthly happiness we miss, | 30 |
| Still is the yearning soul more deeply stirred | |
| By hopes of future bliss! | |
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| I seek not to attain, I but aspire! | |
| I yearn for joy no fleeting moment gives,— | |
| The soul grows great through infinite desire, | 35 |
| In what it longs for, lives! | |
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