What's O'Clock/If I were Francesco Guardi

by Amy Lowell

IF I WERE FRANCESCO GUARDI

I

I think you are a white clematis Climbing the wall of a seaside garden, When there is a green haze on the water And a boy is eating a melon in a beat with a brown sail.

II

I think you are the silver heart of a great square, Holding little people like glass beads, Watching them parade—parade—and gather, When the sun slips to an opposite angle, And a thunder of church bells lies like a bronze roof beneath the sky.