A Toccata of Galuppi's (by Robert Browning)

I
Oh Galuppi, Baldassare, this is very sad
to find!
I can hardly misconceive you; it would
prove me deaf and blind;
But although I take your meaning, 'tis
with such a heavy mind!


II
Here you come with old music, and
here's all the good it brings.
What, they lived once thus at Venice where
the merchants were the kings,
Where Saint Mark's is, where the Doges
used to wed the sea with rings?

III
Ay, because the sea's the street there; and
'tis arched by... what you call
... Shylock's bridge with houses on it,
where they kept the carnival:
I was never out of England - it's as if I saw
it all.

IV
Did young people take their pleasure when
the sea was warm in May?
Balls and masks begun at midnight,
burning ever to mid-day,
When they made up fresh adventures for
the morrow, do you say?

V
Was a lady such a lady, cheeks so round
and lips so red, -
On her neck the small face buoyant, like
a bell-flower on its bed,
O'er the breast's superb abundance where
a man might base his head?

...
(to be continued)