Classic Poem

List! O list, to the sound of the music
Whispering low to the murmuring sea,
List to the thrill of the quivering harp-strings,
List to their ravishing melody.
Gaze on the flushes of crimson and purple,
Watch the red sun as it passes from sight,
See the gay nobles in gliding gondolas,
Bathed in the softness and beauty of night!

Stand to your oars, O ye brave gondoliers,
Silent, that sweetly may fall on our ears
Music like warbles from nightingales' throats,
Or echoes of Orpheus' rapturous notes!

Hark! O hark, to the voice of the singer!
Catch the grand strain that is pealing aloft!
Hark! how it rises!—a prayer to the heavens!—
List! How it dies away tremblingly soft!
How the dark eyes of the ladies are flashing!
How the stars burn as the music ascends!
See the lights dance as we flit by the palaces!
How the rich voice with the throbbing harp blends!

Know ye the charm of the soft Southern starlight?
Know the delight of Venetian song?
Can ye recall the romance and the beauty
As in gondolas ye glided along?
Still in my fancy I pass 'neath the arches,
Still hear the chords from the harp's mellow strings;
Glide once again o'er the blue Adriatic,
List'ning entranced as the strange minstrel sings!

Stand to your oars, O ye brave gondoliers,
Silent, that sweetly may fall on our ears
Music like warbles from nightingales' throats,
Or echoes of Orpheus' rapturous notes!