The Whispers in Venice
Venice’s Bridge of Sighs…the walk to a violent end
Footsteps echo softly,
those that took this path before,
their steps tentative,
confident, indolent and ardent,
all thoughts like a mesh of past,
hanging as a diaphanous film over life,
as if last words lingering,
petulant in anonymity,
and the feeling a weight
upon the shoulders.
Here in these streets,
a history centuries old upholds
its stony cold past,
as if written into every cobblestone,
the cries of joy, of pain,
of those hung in the square
for crimes charged,
and all the angst of people so long ago,
who lived amid these same stones,
the same squares and canals.
Each holy church and Duomo,
a free-way of many thousands of prayers,
etched into stone and wood,
and so evident to a feeling heart,
how lives long gone can remain,
their whispers a faint remainder of time,
and the harsh realities of a dark past;
and all this as one steps into a timeless walk,
amid smoothed cobblestones,
and the ebb and flow of the sinking city.
Tony DeLorger © 2016
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Venice – such a romantic city filled with history. It is sad to know it will be all under water some day. Your beautiful poem gives justice to the centuries old city. Well done, Tony.
Much appreciatef Phyllis. Its one of my favorite places in the world.
Your words are indeed a blessing for who have never been to Venice or those who are lucky enough to have visited there..though I have never been to Venice, I can almost feel what it is like to be there because of your captivating verses…a place where glories of the past envelopes the present ….thank you so much for sharing your words..
My pleasure Anjana, and history just seeps from every building and walkway. Australia, being such a young country has nothing like this and I fell in love with Venice, such a wonderland and echo of times past. Cheers!