ONLY a cloud,—far off it seemed to me No habitable city,—when, behold, Came gradual distinctions in the fold Of tremulous vapor shadowing things to be; Forms whether of wave or air rose silently O'er quiet lanes of water, caught the gold Of the Italian sunset; and thus rolled The veil from off the Bride of the Blue Sea. Alas, the irrecoverable dream! Cathedral, palace, all things all too soon Melted like faces in a troubled stream, And, looking backward over the lagoon, I saw the phantom city faintly gleam As mist blown seaward underneath the moon. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CHILD'S FIRST GRIEF by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS TO A LADY: SHE REFUSING TO CONTINUE A DISPUTE WITH ME by MATTHEW PRIOR SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 19. THE SOUTHERN PASSION by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) WRITTEN ON A GLOOMY DAY, IN SICKNESS. THACKWOOD, 4TH JUNE, 1786 by SUSANNA BLAMIRE LADY OF MYSTERY by G. W. BLOEMENDAL VALEDICTORY; THE SCHOLAR TO THE ASHES OF HIS LIBRARY by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB |