Ignis Fatuus…Venetia.

When we return to sinking Venice
I’ll show you where Maria ‘drowns’.

She rises from the pavement bank,
Her garments like a bird in flight,
and dives into the Grand Canal.

And there she floats…
Her azure eyes beneath a cobalt sky
and hair of lucent silken threads
a drifting halo round her head.

And people gather on the brink..
as if in some chimera snare,
Her ivory arms..auroral, white,
like silent serpents in the watery tide.

Before the Marangona chimes,
Between the Gondolas and hired Boats
To gentle lutes and mandolins,
The Dryad of the Ghetto floats.

Kristine Byrne. 4th March 2021
Illustration. Caran D’Ache pencil and oil pastels.