Venezia

heard through ears still dreaming
seen through sleepwalk eyes
a luminescent ghost crawls across the bridge of sighs
the oily water shimmering betrays a frozen thought
and reveals that crucial moment that we missed
the silken lover spurned the broken stranger kissed

hear me mother hear me father 
i'm going way down deep beneath the water

the grand canal is choked with drowning angels
the sun it spins a cold and icy blue
a silvery flock of pigeons in stop motion circles you
the oarsman guides his boat through winding waterways
past windows where ethereal shadows drift
a distant star collapses 
and he feels the current shift 

hear me mother hear me father... 

the generations strung through centuries
just like rosary beads
their names are chiseled in the tarnished brass
the smell of wet decay 
wafting through the midnight mass
like an aria trapped in a tiny radio
like jesus tacked up to that cross of gold
we suffer in translation our true stories falsely told

hear me mother hear me father... 

and now you see my friend venezia is sinking
the perfect ending for the perfect dream 
a city born again its promise now fulfilled 
to the octopus, the sea horse and the bream
the right hand pens the verses
that the left hand soon erases
the rising waters reflect the shivering moonlight
that plays upon the carnival goers' faces

as they sing hear me mother hear me father
i'm going way down deep beneath the water 


copyright Samm Bennett - all rights reserved

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