Cadenabbia - Lake Of Como

No sound of wheels or hoof-beat breaks         The silence of the summer day,     As by the loveliest of all lakes         I while the idle hours away.     I pace the leafy colonnade         Where level branches of the plane     Above me weave a roof of shade         Impervious to the sun and rain.     At times a sudden rush of air         Flutters the lazy leaves o'erhead,     And gleams of sunshine toss and flare         Like torches down the path I tread.     By Somariva's garden gate         I make the marble stairs my seat,     And hear the water, as I wait,         Lapping the steps beneath my feet.     The undulation sinks and swells         Along the stony parapets,     And far away the floating bells         Tinkle upon the fisher's nets.     Silent and slow, by tower and town         The freighted barges come and go,     Their pendent shadows gliding down         By town and tower submerged below.     The hills sweep upward from the shore,         With villas scattered one by one     Upon their wooded spurs, and lower         Bellaggio blazing in the sun.     And dimly seen, a tangled mass         Of walls and woods, of light and shade,     Stands beckoning up the Stelvio Pass         Varenna with its white cascade.     I ask myself, Is this a dream?         Will it all vanish into air?     Is there a land of such supreme         And perfect beauty anywhere?     Sweet vision!    Do not fade away;         Linger until my heart shall take     Into itself the summer day,         And all the beauty of the lake.     Linger until upon my brain         Is stamped an image of the scene,     Then fade into the air again,         And be as if thou hadst not been.