SERENATA MAGICA

(Venetian)

My gondola is a black sea-swan,

And glides beneath the moon.

Dark palaces beside me pass,

Like visions in a beryl-glass

Of what shall never be, alas,

Or what has been too soon.

Like what shall never be, but in

The breathing of a swoon.

My gondola is a black sea-swan,

And makes her mystic way

From door to phantom water-door,

While carven balconies hang o'er

[Pg 29]

And casements framed for love say more

Than love can ever say.

Say more than any voice but voice

Of silent magic may.

My gondola is a black sea-swan—

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