La serenissima

A city is presided over by

The moon in half its glory, and the scars

And blemishes revealed beneath bright Mars

Along the Grand Canal are quite as high

In number as the craters up above—

Serene half disc, the surfaces below,

A twinning of decrepitude and glow,

Romance and tattered cosi, just like love.

.Love lives in leprous palaces whose walls

..Show faults perennial, like faults in men

…And women of Venezia through years

….And centuries. Yet none of this appals.

……The healing suitors echo love’s campaign.

……. The new and old stand strong as gondoliers.