Cadenabbia - Lake Of Como

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    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.