To Walk in Venice

To walk in Venice once again
That’s what I long to do,
If you have been in Venice
You’ll share my longing too.

To climb the small arched bridges
That span the waterways,
To shop in the Rialto
Or stroll and just to gaze.


                                                                 2.

On things of telling beauty
That you will surely pass -
Like figurines and chandeliers
Of pure venetian glass.

To walk the quiet of city streets
And hear no din and blare
Of surging traffic right and left,
(Or breathe polluted air.)

Stand in the square San Marco
And then and there behold
One more of Europe’s splendours -
The wondrous ‘Church of Gold’.
                                                                      3.

To enter through it’s portals
Seems to spark an ethereal glow
- St. Mark’s remains were brought here
One thousand years ago.

All Europe’s gateway from the East
This Port it used to be,
When tall ships with exotic wares
Sailed in from distant sea.

Tall Ships! Ah, what a sight they’d be
Converging on the bay -
Once Marco Polo sailed from here
To lands once far away.

                                                                        4.

At night, on canal waterways
More fantasy is laid;
With splash of pole and dash of light,
gondolas ply their trade.

To walk again in Venice
That’s what I long to do;
To walk enchanting cobbled lanes -
And walk with history too.


Clarry Dunstan
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