Maggie's Farm

Nights on Lake Como

What do you take from these starry nights,
O heart, in all your disarray?
Yes, what do you take from their delights
To guide you on your path by day?

What did you feel when, in the pale
Pond’s shell, its silver overswelled;
When, deep within the resting vale,
A trembling stream of starlight welled?

Can it slip into shadow, as over the ring
Of hills, a white flash passed (night’s noon),
And, as the rushing bluish wing
Of a cloud clung round the moon?

Can it shatter, like the silent blooms
That softly waft their heated prayer
Over the villas’ rich doors and rooms
To your breathing heart in the late-night air?

Can it quiver too, as, softer, lighter,
(A sinking string of pearls or lace),
The moon’s gleam over the rocking water
Fled for the dark without a trace?                 

Is nothing left of the whispering spray
Of the cypresses along the shore,
Not one of your dream thoughts that would stray
Along your round for an hour or more?

Perhaps but a verse of the wind in its reeling
And pure longing for that time that could bless
Like fragrance lost in a gentle feeling
Of inexpressible tenderness.

(translation by William Ruleman - details here)