Sonnets written chiefly during a tour through Holland, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Hungary. By Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley |
 |
SONNET.
|
 | Sonnets |  |
46
SONNET.
ON VENICE.
Venice!—the sea that flows thro' thy fair streetsShould surely be a weeping sea of tears,
Mourning thy funeral Beauty's faded years,
And all that sadly there the grieved eye meets!
My Heart, thy charms full sorrowfully greets,
Too sad thy splendour to my Soul appears!—
And yet thy melancholy more endears—
More wins to thee!—whose tale loud fame repeats!
Where are thy monarch-nobles of the old days?
Where thy Sea-Cæsars?—Doges of proud name!—
Where thy vast victories, past all count or praise?
Played for between Oblivion pale and Fame!
In thee a Queen-like Phantom meets our gaze;
Thine is the Ruin!—be all Earth's—the Shame!
Venice.
| Sonnets | |