Imitated from the Italian

My Gondola's waiting dearest!
 The night is well nigh to it's noon,
And the sea is the calmest and clearest
 Ever lit by a summer's moon:
O! come like a white cloud flying
 O'er the heavenly blue of the skies
And the ripple that murmurs in dying
 Will seem but to echo our sighs!

O come to my Gondola—dearest!
 And sail with me side by side
I know there are times when thou fearest
 To trust either me—or the tide:
Yet a mother her infant sleeper
 Or the moon-beams this dreaming sea
Regard with a love no deeper
 Or purer than mine for thee!