Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Torcello, the Island | | The Island of Torcello | | Anonymous |
| | (From Beatrice)
HOW pretty this! The waters seek | |
| So wooingly this bosky creek; | |
| How lovingly the moonlight falls | |
| On leafy cliff and cottage walls! | |
| How all its peaks and edges glimmer, | 5 |
| And all its myrtles softly shimmer; | |
| Reared of shadows and of light, | |
| Sweet creation of the night! | |
| From the rock’s projecting crest, | |
| Venturous as a martlet’s nest, | 10 |
| The cot o’erhangs the water’s breast. | |
| Nets are clinging on the wall, | |
| Spars and tackling loosely lie, | |
| And the patched boat high and dry, | |
| Gaff and anchor rusted all; | 15 |
| O’er the waters softly swelling, | |
| This thread of light, so pure and shy, | |
| Seaward slanting from on high, | |
| Glimmers from a fisher’s dwelling. | | | | |
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