Poems

From Poems of Place and Time:

Winter Venice

December arrival and the vaporetto is waiting
Crisp cold air seers the choppy lagoon with fronds of steel coloured mist
Pale sun filters through a pink grey sky at dusk
Palazzo walls slap against darkening watery margins
As empty gondolas creep stealthily through the incoming gloom.
The city echoes free from armies of occupation
Delivered temporarily from its fair-weather friends.
In winter the glories of elegant palaces sprung from unbounded wealth
Fade under relentless exposure their decaying facades unmasked.
Bells ring the remaining few to evening prayers
Roof tops cascade and tumble onto the bare flagstones
The squares are abandoned to empty tables, white cloths waving forlornly.

An eerie hush resounds along narrow alleyways
Broken only by the listless slapping of vessels bedded down
While boatmen take cover from the cold in nearby coffee stalls.
Suddenly the silence is rudely broken
As flurries of children burst through, shrill voices raised high
‘See here! San Marco! San Marco!’ they cry
And out of the mist La Serenissima rises up
Springing into new life once more.