In a Gondola

He sings.

I send my heart up to thee, all my heartIn this my singing.For the stars help me, and the sea bears part;The very night is clinging5Closer to Venice' streets to leave one spaceAbove me, whence thy faceMay light my joyous heart to thee its dwelling-place.

She speaks.

Say after me, and try to say10My very words, as if each wordCame from you of your own accord,In your own voice, in your own way:"This woman's heart and soul and brainAre mine as much as this gold chain15She bids me wear, which (say again)I choose to make by cherishingA precious thing, or choose to flingOver the boat-side, ring by ring."And yet once more say... no word more!20Since words are only words. Give o'er!

Unless you call me, all the same,Familiarly by my pet name,Which if the Three should hear you call,And me reply to, would proclaim25At once our secret to them all.Ask of me, too, command me, blame--Do, break down the partition-wall'Twixt us, the daylight world beholdsCurtained in dusk and splendid folds!30What's left but--all of me to take?I am the Three's: prevent them, slakeYour thirst! 'Tis said, the Arab sage,In practising with gems, can looseTheir subtle spirit in his cruce35And leave but ashes: so, sweet mage,Leave them my ashes when thy useSucks out my soul, thy heritage!

He sings.

Past we glide, and past, and past!40What's that poor Agnese doingWhere they make the shutters fast?Grey Zanobi's just a-wooingTo his couch the purchased bride:Past we glide!45

Past we glide, and past, and past!Why's the Pucci Palace flaringLike a beacon to the blast?Guests by hundreds, not one caringIf the dear host's neck were wried:50Past we glide!

She sings.

The moth's kiss, first!Kiss me as if you made believeYou were not sure, this eve,55How my face, your flower, had pursedIts petals up; so, here and thereYou brush it, till I grow awareWho wants me, and wide ope I burst..

The bee's kiss, now!60Kiss me as if you entered gayMy heart at some noonday,A bud that dares not disallowThe claim, so all is rendered up,And passively its shattered cup65Over your head to sleep I bow.

He sings.

What are we two?I am a Jew,And carry thee, farther than friends can pursue,70To a feast of our tribe;Where they need thee to bribeThe devil that blasts them unless he imbibe.Thy... Scatter the vision for ever! And nowAs of old, I am I, thou art thou!75

Say again, what we are?The sprite of a star,I lure thee above where the destinies barMy plumes their full playTill a ruddier ray80Than my pale one announce there is withering awaySome... Scatter the vision forever! And now,As of old, I am I, thou art thou!

He muses.

Oh, which were best, to roam or rest?85The land's lap or the water's breast?To sleep on yellow millet-sheaves,Or swim in lucid shallows justEluding water-lily leaves,An inch from Death's black fingers, thrust90To lock you, whom release he must;Which life were best on Summer eves?

He speaks, musing.

Lie back; could thought of mine improve you?From this shoulder let there spring95A wing; from this, another wing;Wings, not legs and feet, shall move you!Snow-white must they spring, to blendWith your flesh, but I intendThey shall deepen to the end,100Broader, into burning gold,Till both wings crescent-wise enfoldYour perfect self, from 'neath your feetTo o'er your head, where, lo, they meetAs if a million sword-blades hurled105Defiance from you to the world!

Rescue me thou, the only real!And scare away this mad idealThat came, nor motions to depart!Thanks! Now, stay ever as thou art!110

Still he muses.

What if the Three should catch at lastThy serenader? While there's castPaul's cloak about my head, and fastGian pinions me, Himself has past115His stylet thro' my back; I reel;And... is it thou I feel?

They trail me, these three godless knaves,Past every church that saints and saves,Nor stop till, where the cold sea raves120By Lido's wet accursed graves,They scoop mine, roll me to its brink,And... on thy breast I sink!

She replies, musing.

Dip your arm o'er the boat-side, elbow-deep,125As I do: thus: were death so unlike sleep,Caught this way? Death's to fear from flame or steel,Or poison doubtless; but from water--feel!Go find the bottom! Would you stay me? There!Now pluck a great blade of that ribbon-grass130To plait in where the foolish jewel was,I flung away: since you have praised my hair,'Tis proper to be choice in what I wear.

He speaks.

Row home? must we row home? Too surely135Know I where its front's demurelyOver the Giudecca piled;Window just with window mating,Door on door exactly waiting,All's the set face of a child:140But behind it, where's a traceOf the staidness and reserve,And formal lines without a curve,In the same child's playing-face?No two windows look one way145O'er the small sea-water threadBelow them. Ah, the autumn dayI, passing, saw you overhead!First, out a cloud of curtain blew,Then a sweet cry, and last came you--150To catch your lory that must needsEscape just then, of all times then,To peck a tall plant's fleecy seeds,And make me happiest of men.I scarce could breathe to see you reach155So far back o'er the balconyTo catch him ere he climbed too highAbove you in the Smyrna peachThat quick the round smooth cord of gold,This coiled hair on your head, unrolled,160Fell down you like a gorgeous snakeThe Roman girls were wont, of old,When Rome there was, for coolness' sakeTo let lie curling o'er their bosoms.Dear lory, may his beak retain165Ever its delicate rose stainAs if the wounded lotus-blossomsHad marked their thief to know again!

Stay longer yet, for others' sakeThan mine! What should your chamber do?170--With all its rarities that acheIn silence while day lasts, but wakeAt night-time and their life renew,Suspended just to pleasure youWho brought against their will together175These objects, and, while day lasts, weaveAround them such a magic tetherThat dumb they look: your harp, believe,With all the sensitive tight stringsWhich dare not speak, now to itself180Breathes slumberously, as if some elfWent in and out the chords, his wingsMake murmur wheresoe'er they graze,As an angel may, between the mazeOf midnight palace-pillars, on185And on, to sow God's plagues, have goneThrough guilty glorious Babylon.And while such murmurs flow, the nymphBends o'er the harp-top from her shellAs the dry limpet for the nymph190Come with a tune he knows so well.And how your statues' hearts must swell!And how your pictures must descendTo see each other, friend with friend!Oh, could you take them by surprise,195You'd find Schidone's eager DukeDoing the quaintest courtesiesTo that prim saint by Haste-thee-Luke!And, deeper into her rock den,Bold Castelfranco's Magdalen200You'd find retreated from the kenOf that robed counsel-keeping Ser--As if the Tizian thinks of her,And is not, rather, gravely bentOn seeing for himself what toys205Are these, his progeny invent,What litter now the board employsWhereon he signed a documentThat got him murdered! Each enjoysIts night so well, you cannot break210The sport up, so, indeed must makeMore stay with me, for others' sake.

She speaks.

To-morrow, if a harp-string, say,Is used to tie the jasmine back215That overfloods my room with sweets,Contrive your Zorzi somehow meetsMy Zanze! If the ribbon's black,The Three are watching: keep away!

Your gondola--let Zorzi wreathe220A mesh of water weeds aboutIts prow, as if he unawareHad struck some quay or bridge-foot stair!That I may throw a paper outAs you and he go underneath.225There's Zanze's vigilant taper; safe are we.Only one minute more to-night with me?Resume your past self of a month ago!Be you the bashful gallant, I will beThe lady with the colder breast than snow.230Now bow you, as becomes, nor touch my handMore than I touch yours when I step to land,And say, "All thanks, Siora!"--Heart to heartAnd lips to lips! Yet once more, ere we part,235Clasp me and make me thine, as mine thou art!

[He is surprised, and stabbed.

It was ordained to be so, sweet!--and bestComes now, beneath thine eyes, upon thy breast.Still kiss me! Care not for the cowards! Care240Only to put aside thy beauteous hairMy blood will hurt! The Three, I do not scornTo death, because they never lived: but IHave lived indeed, and so--(yet one more kiss)--can die!