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I wrote this after spending one winter day in Venice, 2001. I was mesmerized with it, and this poem tries to reflect that "awe."

VENICE
(I Never Really Left)

Venice, It whispers.
a Quiet, giant
surprise party of a city.
Venice,
I have only loved you in fog.
A Fog, teasing around corners and
waltzing across bridges
A lovely dance, perfectly matched.

Till with tired arms
And looming night
Let it fall, Gracefully to earth.
Mysterious and Cool…its dew
finding our lips, and staying.
A remembrance.

From rocky, black waters
Dazzled by your stage lights,
We applauded and sighed
And whispered into the glorious mist,
This is Venice.

Dear Laurie and Elazar,

I've heard many glorious things of Venice, but none causing me to want to travel there more than what the two of you have written and continue to write. Perhaps you might consider submitting your poetry to a travel magazine, to be included when they do a spread on Venice's magical offering of quietude and beauty in this world of today.

~Lizzytysh

laurie,
very beautiful.i like the dance.funny,but now that lizzy brings up the general perpetuation of venice as being rather incomplete,i remember once thinking that venice is completely submerged in water,and to step out of the door,one needed a boat.i guess this was part ignorance,part wishfull thinking.but when the water rises,knee to waist high,or more,one can wade through the streets.i highly recommend this! the carnevale was rather colorfull and jovial,also.i thought it was kind of comicaly sarcastic though,everyone running around in masks for a week.and not to mention,venetians generaly hate tourists!
ciao
elazar

"Incomplete"? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your placement of that word in your sentence [?] ~ wow, though.....knee-deep to waist-high water...that's some serious wading. I love to go barefoot after a rain. This sounds like a wader's paradise. Sans the snakes, et al that generally accompany a "flood," however, right?

lizzy,
what i mean by rather incomplete perptuation of venice,i mean,like you said,the tourist industrys dont give the "full picture".maybe im saying it wrong?i donno.

Nope, you were correct in the way you said it. Re-reading it from the correct perspective, specifically "the general perpetuation" is incomplete, I see what you meant....the industry tends to either not grasp or express the essences. I guess that's why we have poets ....however, it would be nice to see more poetic inclusions in the "travelogues."

Lizzytysh has a good idea about travel magazines including good poetry with their articles and photos. "A Quite, giant surprise party of a city" would be particularly good as a caption under a photo.