O Venezia

O Venezia
_________________________________________________

The vaporetto takes me over the waterways
of my dreams, into terrafirma and reality
Piazza San Marco beckons as I lose myself
Between the eradicated borders
of dream and reality, past and a delicious present
Yes, this is real, this Venice
The recurring waterways of my dreams

I walk along the “finest drawing room of Europe”
A ceaseless parade of people, pigeons
and duelling café orchestras of Florian and Quadri
I look for God in the San Marco bassilica
And kneel in reverance before the alter of Pala d’Oro
But, I am dazzled by three thousand precious stones
Inlaid in gold
And I am allowed to be a man,
I take a welcome holiday from structured piety

Venice, where water and light combine
to create restless magic
I float with the city on the shimmering tides
Tides of the sea
and in the affairs and designs of man
I float between the slumbering walls
of brick and marble
Beneath the ribbon of the sky
Along the wondrous thoroughfare
of the Grand Canal
Framed by water, and history

I lose myself in Venice
In this labyrinth without a minotaur
As a Theseus without an Ariane’s thread
I am free, caught in the carnival of life
Free to wear a mask, if only for a while
Partying, carousing, singing and dancing
With the revellers and fire-eaters
Living life to the lees

I stand on the bustling Rialto
No longer on the wings of Shakespeare
The merchants are still there
Extracting their pounds of flesh
Surrounded by the Fondaco Dei Tedishi
The arches of Pescaria, God safely locked up
in the church of Giacono Di Rialto
Born with the birth of Venice
I take my leave to dance with the Venetians

For a while I am allowed to pretend, turn Venetian
And smile the smile of man beneath a costume
A bauatta, a black silk hood
A lace cape, cloaked in tabarro
With a swagger I put on a three cornered hat
A thin white mask allows me to strut Travolta-like
Yes, I am Venetian today
Young, dangerous, incognito

Then, I am transposed in time
See prisoners pass the ancient Bridge of Sighs
Glimpses of the Laguna in moonlight
Of gondolas going to the island of Giorgio
saying goodbye to freedom for the penultimate time
There stands the Palace of the Doges
Where democracy spoke
And Marco Polo returned with the riches of China
And tales of the Orient
Our youth was created on the waterways of Venice
With danger, adventure, the wealth of man
I realize I stand in reality and it is time to unmask

I wade through the treasures of Accademia
That God inspired and man created
Soaking in the Scuola Grade di Santa Maria della Carita
I feel the brush strokes of Giovanni Bellini
The canvas comes alive with the Madonna and her child
I fly into Giorgione’s mysterious Tempest
And breath with Canaletto and Lorenzo
Titian and Tintoretto

My spirit expands in wonderment
Even as the Sea God battles the Adriatic itself
And the brilliance fades into tarnished glories
Leaving me wandering in glorious shabby chic
of a bygone era, etched forever in my memory

One time,……….. yes, I was there
Today,….. and five hundred years ago