remembering Venice

While tidying up my desk in preparation for my departure, I came across an envelope in which I found two programs from concerts we attended while in Vicenza in 2007 at this time of year. They were held in a huge, drafty Palladian pile in the middle of town. We walked from our apartment through the dark, narrow streets for these free, 7 PM musicales to join a predominantly blue-haired crowd. It was absolutely wonderful.

Found also, in my efforts to tidy up a couple of year's worth of detritus, the following poem that I had copied from somewhere after one of our trips to Venice during our 2007 stay.

A Dying Glory

In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more,
And silent rows the songless gondolier;
Her palaces are crumbling to the shore
And music meets not always now the ear;
Those days are gone ~ but Beauty still is here.
Statues fall, arts fade ~ but Nature doth not die.
Nor yet forget how Venice once was dear,
The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy!

George Gordon, Lord Byron
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto IV

It was just cold and foggy enough here to remind one of Venice. But as soon as the fog lifted and the sun came out, I looked around and knew I was no where near the place.