VENICE.
Joaquin Miller
ity at sea, thou art surely an ark,- Sea-blown and a-wreck in the rain and dark,
- Where the white sea-caps are so toss'd and curl'd
- Thy sins they were many and behold the flood!
- And here and about us are beasts in stud.
- Creatures and beasts that creep and go,
- Enough, ay, and wicked enough I know,
- To populate, or devour, a world.
- O wrinkled old lion; looking down
- With brazen frown upon mine and me,
- From tower a-top of your watery town,
- Old king of the desert, once king of tlie sea:
- List! here is a lesson for thee to-day.
- Proud and immovable monarch, I say,
- Lo! here is a lesson to-day for thee,
- Of the things that were and the things to be.
- Dank palaces held by the populous sea
- For the good dead men, all cover'd with shell,—
- We will pay them a visit some day; and we,
- We may come to love their old palaces well.
- Bah! toppled old columns all tumbled across,
- Toss'd in the waters that lift and fall,
- Waving in waves long masses of moss,
- Toppled old columns, and that will be all.
- I know you, lion of gray Saint Mark;
- You flutter'd all seas beneath your wing.
- Now, over the deep, and up in the dark,
- High over the girdles of bright gaslight,
- With wings in the air as if for flight,
- And crouching as if about to spring
- From top of your granite of Africa,—
- Say, what shall be said of you some day?
- What shall be said, O grim Saint Mark,
- Savage old beast so cross'd and churl'd,
- By the after-men from the under-world?
- What shall be said as they search along
- And sail these seas for some sign or spark
- Of the old dead fires of the dear old days,
- When men and story have gone their ways,
- Or even your city and name from song?
- Why, sullen old monarch of still'd Saint Mark,
- Strange men of my West, wise-mouth'd and strong,
- Will come some day and, gazing long
- And mute with wonder, will say of thee:
- "This is the Saint! High over the dark,
- Foot on the Bible and great teeth bare,
- Tail whipp'd back and teeth in the air—
- Lo! this is the Saint, and none but he!"