Erotica/In Italy
< Erotica
In Italy
Give us the sun and give us love,A western breeze on a sapphire sea,Heaven below and heaven above,Heaven for thee and me.
A western breeze to fan our sailsLazily flapping against the mast,Facing the ocean with rippling scalesDrawing to port at last,
As we hail our casa's whited walls,Where olive-trees gemm'd with the fireflies' lightStand fringing the groves whence Philomel callsTo the liquid soul of night.
And scents lie heavy upon the air,From orange blossoms cloying the breath,And a soothing hum that numbs the earComes from the town beneath.
Till a mist creeps over the hill, shuts downOn our home's white walls and o'erhanging eaves,And the nightingales hush as the distant townPuts out her lights and leaves
The rest of the night to darkness and loveConsecrated to thee and me,Whilst my world spins on about and above,Centred in thee.