Venice, by Arthur Symons
I haven’t been to Venice (yet, its definitely on my list of places I want to go, for any number of reasons [the Icon Museum is one of them]), but I love the atmosphere that this poem paints of it. I am, in general, someone who prefers short(ish) poems over poems of epic proportions (though there are some really long poems I am definitely fond of), and this one manages to paint a very vivid and unified picture in eight lovely and melodious lines.
Venice
Arthur SymonsWater and marble and that silentness
Which is not broken by a wheel or hoof;
A city like a water-lily, less
Seen than reflected, palace wall and roof,
In the unfruitful waters motionless,
Without one living grass’s green reproof;
A city without joy or weariness,
Itself beholding, from itself aloof.
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