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Home  »  library  »  poem  »  Gondoliera

C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Gondoliera

By Emanuel Geibel (1815–1884)

Translation of Frances Hellman

OH, come to me when through the night

The starry legions ride!

Then o’er the sea, in the moonshine bright,

Our gondola will glide.

The air is soft as a lover’s jest,

And gently gleams the light;

The zither sounds, and thy soul is blest

To join in this delight.

Oh, come to me when through the night

The starry legions ride!

Then o’er the sea, in the moonshine bright,

Our gondola will glide.

This is the hour for lovers true,

Darling, like thee and me;

Serenely smile the heavens blue

And calmly sleeps the sea.

And as it sleeps, a glance will say

What speech in vain has tried;

The lips then do not shrink away,

Nor is a kiss denied.

Oh, come to me when through the night

The starry legions ride!

Then o’er the sea, in the moonshine bright,

Our gondola will glide.