Erotica/In Italy
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 sails
Lazily flapping against the mast,
Facing the ocean with rippling scales
Drawing to port at last,
As we hail our casa's whited walls,
Where olive-trees gemm'd with the fireflies' light
Stand fringing the groves whence Philomel calls
To 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 ear
Comes from the town beneath.
Till a mist creeps over the hill, shuts down
On our home's white walls and o'erhanging eaves,
And the nightingales hush as the distant town
Puts out her lights and leaves
The rest of the night to darkness and love
Consecrated to thee and me,
Whilst my world spins on about and above,
Centred in thee.